(2020-04-05). By Refusing to Cancel In-Person Voting, Wisconsin GOP Weaponizes Coronavirus. truthout.org Despite warnings from public health experts and legal challenges by voting rights groups, the Democratic primary and state and local elections are set to go forward on Tuesday after Republican state legislators refused to take up a proposal to cancel most in-person voting in light of the coronavirus pandemic. | After Democratic Gov. Tony Evers
(2020-04-05). More Democracy or Less? Elections in a Pandemic. zcomm.org The GOP's decade-long war on voting rights is making it harder to hold fair elections as COVID-19 spreads…
(2020-04-05). 'Reckless': Chaos Expected in Tuesday's Elections After Wisconsin Republicans Refuse to Cancel In-Person Voting. commondreams.org Despite warnings from public health experts and legal challenges by voting rights groups, the Democratic primary and state and local elections are set to go forward on Tuesday after Republican state legislators refused to take up a proposal to cancel most in-person voting in light of the coronavirus pandemic. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2020-04-05). Israeli police detain Jerusalem governor. yenisafak.com Israeli police on Sunday detained Jerusalem Governor Adnan Ghaith.A video released by the Jerusalem-based Wadi Hilweh Information Center showed police forcefully detaining Ghaith from his home in Jerusalem's neighborhood of Silwan.Ghaith has been detained several times in recent months.The reason behind the detention remains unclear and the Israeli police have yet to issue an official statement.Jerusalem remains at the heart of the decades-long Mideast conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem
(2020-04-05). Prominent Hezbollah commander killed in Lebanon. yenisafak.com A prominent Hezbollah commander, Muhammad Ali Yunis, was killed by unknown gunmen on Sunday morning in southern Lebanon, Iranian and Lebanese media reported.The Iranian semi-official Fars news agency reported that the slain commander was "responsible for tracking spies and collaborators".It also said that so far there is "no additional information on how he was killed".Some Lebanese media outlets close to the Hezbollah group said that Yunis was pursuing a suspect when he was ambushed by three cars in the Zoutar area.Opposition Lebanese media said Israeli intelligence agency Mossad is behind the assassination.No…
(2020-04-05). Coronavirus tally rises in several Arab countries. yenisafak.com Health authorities in several Arab countries confirmed new cases and deaths from the novel coronavirus on Sunday.The Lebanese Health Ministry recorded a new fatality, raising the death toll to 18, while seven people tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 527.In Morocco, the Health Ministry said the death toll has risen to 66 after seven deaths were recorded.The number of confirmed cases climbed to 960 with another 41 cases recorded.In Iraq, health authorities recorded one death, bringing the death toll to 57, and a total of 908 cases after 18 more cases were confirmed.The Palestinian government, for…
(2020-04-04). Armed Israeli Settlers Storm Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. imemc.org Israeli colonial settlers, on Saturday, stormed the Palestinian neighborhood of Wadi Alrababa in Silwan village in the internationally-recognized occupied city of East Jerusalem, southern West Bank. Local media outlets and witnesses said that about 25 armed colonial settlers stormed the neighborhood and embarked on provocative actions towards local unarmed Palestinian …
(2020-04-04). Palestinian Governor of East Jerusalem Issues a Passover Warning. imemc.org The Palestinian Authority's (PA) Governorate for the internationally-recognized occupied East Jerusalem, issued a warning on Saturday, for Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, southern West Bank. The governorate's warning comes ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover, in the context of the rapidly-spreading coronavirus, in many Israeli areas. The governorate warned …
(2020-04-04). Israeli Forces Injure Dozens of Palestinians in Kufur Qaddoum. imemc.org A Palestinian youth was injured when Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian citizens, while dozens of Palestinians choked on tear gas in Kufur Qaddoum village, in the northern West Bank district of Qalqilia on Friday, the Palestinian Information Center reported. Morad Eshteiwi, the coordinator of the Popular Committee against the …
(2020-04-04). Amid India's calamitous lockdown, Modi seeks to censor coronavirus reports. wsws.org India's Supreme Court has ordered media outlets to publicize "official" government-authored coronavirus reports, and threatened prosecution if they disseminate "fake news."
(2020-04-04). National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression relaunch a success. fightbacknews.org Frank Chapman, a long-time leader in the Black liberation movement, talks about the November 22- 24 Chicago conference to refound the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. The interview was prepared for the print edition of Fight Back! which is now on hold due to the pandemic. | Fight Back!: In November, you helped organize the re-founding conference of the National Alliance in Chicago. What conditions are there in the country that led up to the conference? | Frank Chapman: Our call for the re-founding of the National Alliance was a direct response and a conscious intervention into a mass you…
(2020-04-04). 'We Will Not Sit Back and Let Transit Workers Be Treated Like Cannon Fodder'. thenation.com 'We Will Not Sit Back and Let Transit Workers Be Treated Like Cannon Fodder'
(2020-04-03). Tunisia Leads the Way: New Report Exposes Israel's False Democracy. counterpunch.org 
Tunisia is the Middle East's greatest success story, according to the findings of the V-Dem Annual Democracy Report 2019. One of the world's most regarded annual reports on democracy and good governance, the V-Dem Report is produced by the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. While Tunisians can be
(2020-04-03). Gaza's New Conflict: COVID-19. counterpunch.org 
At a time when everyone was celebrating the arrival of a new decade, a rare once-in-a-100-year event took the world by surprise: a major global pandemic named COVID-19. Governments around the world struggled to fight the virus, taking extreme measures to contain it with nearly one billion people now living in confinement. At first, Palestinians
(2020-04-03). Brazil Supreme Court asks to suspend Bolsonaro for 180 days. mronline.org 
Marco Aurélio Mello, a Minister of Brazil's Supreme Court, sent the Attorney General's Office a request to suspend President Jair Bolsonaro from his post for 180 days for committing various actions that have put the country at risk in the face of the covid-19 health emergency, according to a Telesur report.
(2020-04-03). AOC slammed for blaming coronavirus deaths on inequality… after championing shutdown that accelerated it. rt.com 
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has demanded minority-focused "reparations" for coronavirus, insisting "inequality is a comorbidity" exacerbating the deaths — after calling for shutdowns that impoverished millions. | The New York Democrat called for coronavirus relief to be "drafted with a lens of reparations," insisting that deaths from the virus were "disproportionately spiking in Black [and] Brown communities" in a tweet on Friday. | Blaming "the chronic toll of redlining, environmental racism, wealth gap," she smoothly conflated economic inequality — a problem in white and nonwhite commun…
(2020-04-03). The Apartheid Wars: Non-Accountability and Freedom for Perpetrators. counterpunch.org 
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a vital means to save the country from unending civil war. These had raged with increasing intensity since 1960, and in 1994 the forces of oppression were militarily intact. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu, soon to be chair of the Commission observed in 1995, "Nuremberg trials" were not for
(2020-04-03). PCHR: Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (26 March — 1 April 2020). imemc.org Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) 26 March — 1 April 2020 Summary Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continued to violate Palestinians' human rights and commit crimes against civilians and their properties, conducting raids into Palestinian cities without regard to the state of emergency declared across the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) …
(2020-04-03). Israeli Police Abducts Palestinian Minister Of Jerusalem Affairs. imemc.org (Please See Update: After his release on the same day: Jerusalem Minister:…
(2020-04-03). WAFA: "10 Detainees At Ofer Embark On Hunger Strike" imemc.org RAMALLAH, Thursday, April 2, 2020 (WAFA) — Ten Palestinian political prisoners at Ofer detention camp, southwest of Ramallah, embarked today on an open-ended hunger strike in protest against the ongoing solitary confinement of two fellow prisoners, as well as against Israel's failure to provide the conditions to prevent a high …
(2020-04-03). PLO official Decries Israeli Actions Amidst Spread of Coronavirus. imemc.org Member of Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Dr. Hanan Ashrawi denounced on Friday, Israel's actions which she described as hampering Palestinian efforts, underway, to fight the Coronavirus (COVID-19). | In a statement released Friday, the high-ranking Palestinian official, Dr.
(2020-04-03). Anti-war leaders condemn Trump's war moves against Venezuela. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN — Anti-war leaders are condemning U.S. war moves against Venezuela. The Trump administration has indicted Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, and a U.S. naval deployment is underway. | Cassia Laham, of the Florida anti-war group People's Opposition to War, Imperialism, and Racism (POWIR), states, "The indictment against Maduro is an absolutely transparent move by the U.S. imperialists to try, yet again, to take down the two-time democratically-elected government of Venezuela." | Laham continued, "The U.S. cannot stand that Venezuela has rejected American neoliberalism and has been trying…
(2020-04-03). The Failure of Intellectuals to Analyze the Worldwide Economic and Social Crisis: "Sapere aude!" — "Dare to be Wise!" globalresearch.ca The events of the last century as well as today reveal that not only the "simple" people fail in the resistance against totalitarianism and fascism. Intellectuals, too, fail to live up to their responsibility despite an academic education and the …
(2020-04-03). Jerusalem Minister: "I Was Forced To Wear A Dirty Mask, With Signs Of Dried Blood On It" imemc.org Shortly after his release from the al-Maskobiyya interrogation facility in occupied Jerusalem, the Palestinian Government Minister of Jerusalem, Fadi al-Hadmi, said that the soldiers violently searched his home, and used dogs to inflict maximum damage, in addition to forcing him to wear a dirty mask that had signs of dried …
(2020-04-03). Detained immigrants across Deep South feel like 'sitting ducks' as ICE ignores their safety amid global pandemic. splcenter.org COVID-19 began to infect the nation at rapid speed in March, reaching every corner of the country and taking the lives of more than 6,000 people by April 3. The United Nations has dubbed the coronavirus the "most challenging" crisis the globe has witnessed since World War II.
(2020-04-02). New Reports Place Israel Among World's 25 "Declining Democracies" mintpressnews.com 
Both Freedom House and V-DEM's Annual Democracy Report shows Israel is experiencing a precipitous decline in democracy. Thought that would hardly be surprising to the 2 million Arab citizens that live there.
(2020-04-02). Israel Puts Forth a Condition for Aiding Gaza Over Coronavirus. imemc.org Palestinian media reports, citing Israeli sources, reported on Thursday that the Israeli government put forth a condition for shipping medical aid to the besieged Gaza Strip, for fighting the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Sources said that Israeli Defense Minister, Naftali Bennett, was quoted during a press briefing in Tel-Aviv, as saying …
(2020-04-02). How the Joint List Got it All Wrong for ever Believing Benny Gantz. dissidentvoice.org Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White party, abandoned the central plank of his platform at the weekend — that he would never sit in a coalition with Benjamin Netanyahu, who has led Israel continuously for the past 11 years. A former military general, Gantz justified his dramatic change of course under cover of …
(2020-04-02). Stop Trump's anti-Asian Racism; Speak out against hate crimes! fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following March 29 statement from the Twin Cites based Anti-War Committee. | Racism against Asian Americans is on the rise with 650 attacks reported this last week of March, 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic deepens, Donald Trump is PURPOSEFULLY inciting these attacks. President Trump is using anti-Asian racism to distract from his bungled COVID-19 response and to demonize China. Despite the fact that Trump previously praised China's transparency and heroic efforts to curb the pandemic, he is now maliciously labeling the coronavirus as the "Chinese virus." | Trump has repea…
(2020-04-02). UN Official Calls for Assisting the Palestinian Government in Fight against Coronavirus. imemc.org United Nations' Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace, Nickolay Mladenov, called on Thursday for helping the Palestinian Authority fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19). In a new statement, reported by local media outlets, Mladenov urged key international donor countries to promptly aid the Palestinian Authority, voicing concerns amidst the rapid spread …
(2020-04-02). COVID-19 Doesn't Discriminate — Neither Should Congress' Response. aclu.org Congress' third bill addressing the impacts of COVID-19, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), was a necessary attempt to respond to this public health crisis but its exclusion of immigrant communities is downright racist and xenophobic. Immigrants were
(2020-04-02). Fighting for immigrant rights during a pandemic. splcenter.org As people across the country are confined to their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, little attention has been given to a group of people whose health is in danger because they are locked away from the outside world — people in immigrant detention centers.
(2020-04-02). Alabama prisons hold more than 1,100 older people at greater COVID-19 risk. splcenter.org More than 1,100 people age 65 or older are locked away in Alabama prisons, putting a group already highly susceptible to the deadly COVID-19 virus at an even greater risk, according to an SPLC analysis of the state's prison system.
(2020-04-02). 'People Should Not Be Forced to Put Their Lives on the Line to Vote'. thenation.com 'People Should Not Be Forced to Put Their Lives on the Line to Vote'
(2020-04-01). These Songs Kill Fascists. dissidentvoice.org These Songs Kill Fascists, my latest album, is an ode to Woody Guthrie, a call to fight fascism outside and internally. Featuring Mick Jenkins, Psalm One, Denver jazz legend Ron Miles, and platinum producer DJ Pain 1, the album tackles issues such as the murder of Heather Heyer, Denver's history with the KKK, gentrification, rape …
(2020-04-01). The Added Importance of the Census, in Light of COVID-19. aclu.org Last year around this time, my biggest worry was how the inclusion of the Trump administration's proposed citizenship question would depress participation in the decennial census. Thankfully, our Supreme Court victory means there is no citizenship question on the census. Now, I have a new worry: a global pandemic and the health of my loved ones. As it turns out, the 2020 Census plays a role here too, as it will have enormous implications on our health care for decades to come. | Specifically, the census will determine the allocation of $300 billion dollars of federal aid for the states' health care — mo…
(2020-04-01). SPLC, partners seek temporary restraining order to prevent immigration courts from becoming public health hazard. splcenter.org …
(2020-03-31). Remembering Theresa Halasa: Revered Veteran of the Palestinian Resistance. mintpressnews.com 
Amman, Jordan — "I didn't join the Palestinian resistance because I experienced suffering, I joined out of a sense of patriotism," Theresa Halasa, a revered veteran of the Palestinian resistance said this in an In 1972, Halasa was one of four Palestinians who hijacked a Belgian Sabena airliner en route to Tel-Aviv. The objective was to keep the passengers hostage until the Israeli government agreed to release Pal…
(2020-03-31). Dr. Abdul El-Sayed: Communities Enduring Racism & Poverty Will Suffer Most Due to COVID-19. democracynow.org 
As the number of coronavirus deaths in the United States tops 3,100, states are demanding ventilators and medical supplies. Michigan is a growing hot spot and struggling to prepare for a surge in cases, but President Trump has repeatedly attacked Michigan's governor, calling her "that woman." We speak with the former director of the Detroit Health Department, Abdul El-Sayed. He's a physician and epidemiologist, and his new book is just out today, "Healing Politics: A Doctor's Journey into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic." His recent piece for The Guardian is headlined "Coronavirus is exploiting an underlying…
(2020-03-31). Right-Wing Media Joined Trump in Enabling Health Disaster. fair.org 
"If Hitler succeeds in pointing the way of peace and order and an ethical development which has been destroyed throughout the world by war, he will have accomplished a measure of good not only for his own people but for all humanity."—William Randolph Hearst (New York Times, The downplaying of the coronavirus by the right-wing press in the United States was preceded decades ago by the media owned by William Randolph Hearst enabling a different sort of toxicity by promoting a positive image of Nazism in the US.
(2020-03-31). Palestinians face two enemies: Occupation and pandemic. greenleft.org.au 
The number…
(2020-03-30). Neo-Confederate Group Moves Ahead with Conference Amid Covid-19 Outbreak. splcenter.org Michael Hill has no intention of letting a global pandemic cancel plans for the League of the South's annual conference.
(2020-03-30). Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative: COVID-19 Parole Informational Guide for Sponsors. splcenter.org …
(2020-03-30). The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery played key role in launching SPLC's legal battle against Ku Klux Klan. splcenter.org The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, who died on Friday at 98 years old, was a longtime friend of the Southern Poverty Law Center and played a leading role in the SPLC's first lawsuit against the Ku Klux Klan in 1980.
(2020-03-28). [Commentary] A systems approach to preventing and responding to COVID-19. thelancet.com A novel zoonotic coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in a pandemic of respiratory infection [1,2]. COVID-19 has provoked restrictive infection control measures, social and economic disruption, and expressions of racism [3]. Systems thinking can help policymakers understand and influence the spread of infection and its multifaceted consequences across the community since society is itself a complex adaptive system [4]. It can provide a framework to look beyond the chain of infection and better understand the multiple implications of decisions and (in)actions in face of such a complex situation involving many inte…
(2020-03-27). Weekend Read: SPLC demands ICE act amid pandemic to save the lives of countless immigrants trapped in its crowded detention centers. splcenter.org …
(2020-03-26). White Supremacists See Coronavirus as an Opportunity. splcenter.org Far-right extremists believe the intense uncertainty surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19 will aid their ability to recruit new members into their movement.
(2020-03-25). SPLC and allies seek federal court injunction in system-wide suit to protect people detained by ICE from contracting COVID-19. splcenter.org The SPLC and its allies asked a federal court today to issue a preliminary injunction requiring that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) take immediate steps to protect people in its custody, particularly those who have medical conditions making them more susceptible to serious illness and death from COVID-19.
(2020-03-25). Once a High-Profile Neo-Nazi, Azzmador Has Pulled a Disappearing Act. splcenter.org At "Unite the Right" in Charlottesville, Virginia, Azzmador appeared to be everywhere.
(2020-03-24). Arbitrary & excessive: Marijuana trafficking sentences in Alabama. splcenter.org Alabama resident Lee Carroll Brooker garnered national attention in 2016 when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the marijuana trafficking case that put Brooker, in his 70s at the time, in prison for life.