(2021-01-18). Fixating on Pandemic "Learning Loss" Undermines the Need to Transform Education. truthout.org 
Nationally, COVID-19 is further exposing
(2021-01-18). Israel bans schools from hosting rights groups critical of occupation. middleeasteye.net 
Israel bans schools from hosting rights groups critical of occupation | The announcement came after Likud complained about the director of rights group B'Tselem who was scheduled to give a talk at a school in Haifa | Mon, 01/18/2021 – 14: 48 | Despite the order on Sunday, the director of B'Tselem, Hagai El-Ad, gave a scheduled lecture to students in the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa (AFP) | Israel's Education M…
(2021-01-18). Palestine Refugees Are Forced to the Back of the COVID Vaccine Line. truthout.org 
As the world races to vaccinate against COVID-19, Israel has been touted for having one of the fastest response rates. The country has, as of January 1, 2021, already vaccinated 10 percent of its 9 million citizens and predicts another 2 million will be vaccinated by the end of the month. While these are laudable statistics, Palestinians living in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and in the Gaza Strip have been explicitly excluded, including health care workers on the front lines of the COVID-…
(2021-01-18). Podemos obeys Spanish fascist Vox party's demand for no shelter-at-home. wsws.org The Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government immediately accepted Vox leader Santiago Abascal's demand that no shelter-at-home be adopted against COVID-19.
(2021-01-18). Israel is increasingly an Apartheid State: What Martin Luther King Jr. Would have thought of that. juancole.com Revised Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose activism we honor today, took stands far beyond Selma and Montgomery, and called on other capitals than Washington, D.C., to ensure a dignified life for human beings. Dr. King was an early and vigorous opponent of the white South African Apartheid (segregationist) …
(2021-01-18). UN urged to take action against France over 'entrenching Islamophobia'. middleeasteye.net 
UN urged to take action against France over 'entrenching Islamophobia' | Coalition of 36 organisations submits complaint to UN Human Rights Council, accusing France of violating international law over treatment of Muslims | Mon, 01/18/2021 – 12: 59 | French police outside the Great Mosque in Paris amid a heightened risk of terror attacks on places of worship, October 2020 (AFP/File photo) | A coalitio…
(2021-01-18). Israel must Provide Vaccines to Occupied Palestinians: HRW says Over 4.5 Million in West Bank, Gaza Excluded From Vaccination Push. juancole.com ( Human Rights Watch) — (Jerusalem) — Israeli authorities should provide Covid-19 vaccines to the more than 4.5 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Human Rights Watch said today. While Israel has already vaccinated more than 20 percent of its citizens, including Jewish settlers in the West Bank, it has not …
(2021-01-18). This week in history: January 18-24. wsws.org 25 years ago: Arafat wins Palestinian voteOn January 20, 1996, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and his al-Fatah party won the election held among residents of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. The electoral triumph confirmed Arafat's role as the chief enforcer of Israeli dictates in the territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Arafat won 88 percent of the vote for president of the Palestinian Council while his nominees took more than half the seats on the legislative body.
(2021-01-18). An Ordinary German Neo-Nazi. counterpunch.org In 2017, a new German political party semi Neo-Nazi called AfD — Alternative for Germany — swept into Germany's federal parliament winning 12.6% of the popular vote. By the end of 2020, the AfD entered all sixteen state parliaments, even though its support declined to 9% in recent months. Among the state legislatures in which
(2021-01-18). 780 West Bank Settlement Housing Units In Palestinian Lands, Approved Ahead of US Presidential Transition. globalresearch.ca 780 housing units in settlements, most of them deep in the West Bank (714 units (92%) in settlements that Israel will have to evacuate under a …
(2021-01-17). Pots and Pans Against President Bolsonaro Heard Loud in Brazil. telesurenglish.net Hundreds of people made their pots and pan ring out to demand Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro's resignation due to his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | The protest was driven by the chaotic situation in the state of Amazonas, where its capital Manaus experienced a serious lack of hospital beds and oxygen to treat patients. | Shouting "Genocide" and "Get out Bolsonaro," loud protests were seen in the largest citie…
(2021-01-17). New Orleans FRSO announces MLK Day Virtual Rally. fightbacknews.org New Orleans, LA – Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) will host a Martin Luther King Day Virtual Rally this Monday, January 18. In support of a call from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, New Orleans FRSO demands a mass release from prisons during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The rally will also demand justice for Jacob Blake and an end to police crimes everywhere. The gathering will take place over Zoom, as the city recently transitioned to stricter COVID safety measures. | After a long holiday season, this will be an opportunity for the community to regroup. "I'm just excite…
(2021-01-17). This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let's not whitewash what he stood for. thecanary.co As we approach Martin Luther King Jr. Day on 18 January, it's important to challenge the dominant narratives that surround him. His history as a radical, anti-racist, anti-war, anti-capitalist leftist has been whitewashed to produce something more palatable for the mainstream. However, the iconic civil rights leader posed a legitimate threat to America's white supremacist, militaristic, imperialist, materialistic status quo. | King stood firm
(2021-01-17). Guardian columnist implies his heart attack was CAUSED by Jeremy Corbyn's politics, gets mercilessly mocked. rt.com 
Guardian columnist Rafael Behr wants readers to spare a thought for him, after implying that covering the Brexit melee and worrying about Jeremy Corbyn's alleged anti-Semitism gave him a literal heart attack. Ridicule ensued. | In the hierarchy of journalists, there are none hardier than war correspondents. They risk life and limb to report from the world's most dangerous conflict zones, yet the Guardian's Rafael Behr
(2021-01-17). 'A Jim Crow Relic That Must Be Abolished': Demand to End Filibuster Grows. commondreams.org "Do Senate Democrats want to keep the filibuster or do they want to pass comprehensive democracy, anti-corruption, and voting rights legislation to realize the promise of a multi-racial democracy?" said one progressive organizer. "I don't see a way they can do both." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2021-01-17). The Jewish Supremacist State. popularresistance.org The respected Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem, has now officially reached this conclusion: "[T]he entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is organized under a single principle: advancing and cementing the supremacy of one group—Jews—over another—Palestinians"; "A regime that uses laws, practices and organized violence to cement the supremacy of one group over another is an apartheid regime." | The B'Tselem position paper focuses on four aspects of Israeli apartheid. Two aspects—Jewish-only immigration and Jewish-only land development—operate in the…
(2021-01-17). Denial of American Fascism Has Cost Us Dearly. commondreams.org The inconvenient truths about fascism, like learning about the climate and health crises, could lead us to actually shift our beliefs and lives. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2021-01-16). Black Lives Matter Protestors Charged As A Gang. popularresistance.org Maricopa County, AZ – In Washington, D.C., members of a pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol and killed a police officer are so far being charged mainly with disorderly conduct and unlawful entry. The man photographed with his feet on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk faces three charges that carry a maximum penalty of one year in prison. After the violent siege, some members of the mob simply returned to their hotel. | Many were quick to point out an apparent double standard when compared to the way police in D.C. treated Black Lives Matter protesters over the summer—like when they tear gassed protesters to cl…
(2021-01-16). AUDIO: The Fascist Assault and the Ruling Class Response. liberationnews.org 
This interview is an episode of The Socialist Program with Brian Becker, a podcast providing news and views about the world for those who want to change it. You can follow the show on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The profound political crisis gripping the United States continues to deepen and take new twists and turns …
(2021-01-16). America now has its own Green Zone, as Trumpian Fascism erects Racist Red Zone. juancole.com 
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — America now has its own Green Zone in downtown Washington, D.C., where the Mall is closed, the city is locked down, and protective fencing has gone up around the Capitol. You only need a Green Zone, a safe small space completely under the control of the government, if the rest …
(2021-01-16). 13 Israelis suffer FACIAL PARALYSIS after taking Pfizer Covid jab, amid influx of reports detailing adverse effects. rt.com 
At least 13 Israelis have experienced facial paralysis after being administered the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, a month after the US Food and Drug Administration reported similar issues but said they weren't linked to the jab. | Israel has been hailed for its speedy and efficient mass inoculation program, which has vaccinated a staggering 20 percent of the country's population since the drive For a handful of Israelis, however, the initiative has led to some unexpected health scares. At least 13 people have…
(2021-01-16). White Supremacist Trump Backers to Storm state capitols on Jan. 20: How Defenseless are We? juancole.com 
By Jennifer Earl | — Americans witnessed an alarming and deadly failure in planning and policing at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The FBI failed to sound intelligence alarms, including about dozens of targets on the terrorist watch list traveling to Washington, D.C. U.S. Park Police, D.C. police and the National Guard, who collectively …
(2021-01-16). Pittsburgh mayor and DA clamp down on anti-racist activists. liberationnews.org 
Last week, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala, Jr. refiled charges against 24 anti-racist activists.
(2021-01-16). US government executes intellectually disabled death row prisoner Corey Johnson. wsws.org Johnson's execution was the second time in less than five weeks that the federal government executed a likely intellectually disabled death row prisoner. The US Supreme Court denied his emergency application for a stay to permit him to present evidence of his disability.
(2021-01-16). How to Fight Climate Change and Fascists at the Same Time. zcomm.org Democracy reform is the first step toward a sustainable future…
(2021-01-16). The Capitol Was Stormed Long Ago. popularresistance.org There are key flashpoints that define the Trump years. The escalator speech. The "total and complete shutdown." Charlottesville. But these were not qualitatively dissimilar from the bulk of his Presidential term, during which racism and violence became ubiquitous. These forces were the water we swam in—which was already the case for BIPOC and marginalized communities. But the Trump era saw these social dynamics doused in accelerant. | The aggressive war on the border, the pathological cruelty of social service cuts, or the police siege against social movements are not the only defining facets of the Trump p…
(2021-01-16). Guterres welcomes Palestinian announcement of elections as 'crucial step' towards unity. news.un.org The UN Secretary-General has welcomed Friday's announcement from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the first full parliamentary and presidential elections in 15 years, scheduled to begin in May.
(2021-01-16). "No One Took Us Seriously": Black Cops Warned About Racist Capitol Police Officers for Years. juancole.com By Joshua Kaplan and Joaquin Sapien Allegations of racism against the Capitol Police are nothing new: Over 250 Black cops have sued the department since 2001. Some of those former officers now say it's no surprise white nationalists were able to storm the building. ( ProPublica) — When Kim Dine took over as the new …
(2021-01-15). Bay Area anti-fascist protest. workers.org 
WW Photo: Marcello Severo Jan. 9—A rally against fascism organized by the United Front Committee for a Labor Party drew a small but enthusiastic crowd in front of the San Francisco Federal Building. Speakers included members of the United Front Committee, the Alliance for Independent Workers, Freedom Socialist Party and . . . |
(2021-01-15). Fascist coup in Washington accelerates Spanish army's coup plotting. wsws.org Spain's conservative Popular Party, the main parliamentary opposition to the Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government, is debating whether to endorse the campaign waged by army officers and the fascist Vox party for a coup d'état.
(2021-01-15). MN: Progressive groups plan inauguration day rally to demand a People's Agenda. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – A broad coalition of progressive organizations will rally and march in Minneapolis on the day of the inauguration of the Biden-Harris presidency, January 20. Demonstrators will call for a People's Agenda that immediately reverses the policies of outgoing President Trump and meets the demands of working people, immigrants and oppressed nationality communities. | Protesters will gather near South High School in Minneapolis at 5 p.m. The list of demands compiled by the coalition highlighted not only the failures and racist attacks from the Trump administration, but also what they see as omissions a…
(2021-01-15). Abbas announces first Palestinian elections in more than 15 years. middleeasteye.net 
Abbas announces first Palestinian elections in more than 15 years | Parliamentary elections will be held on 22 May, followed by presidential vote on 31 July, according to office of President Mahmoud Abbas | Fri, 01/15/2021 – 21: 32 | Mahmoud Abbas, 85, has been Palestinian president since 2005 (AFP) | Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the first parliamentary and presidential el…
(2021-01-15). Keri Leigh Merritt on the New Lost Cause, Elisabeth Rosenthal on Troubled Vaccine Rollout. fair.org 
Historians are shaking their heads as media talk about January 6 as "unprecedented"; while shocking and dispiriting, it has layers and layers of precedent that need to be learned and engaged, if we are ever to actually have the racial reckoning that corporate media are forever insisting we've already had.
(2021-01-15). Authorities at former Nazi German concentration camp Buchenwald warn revelers against sledding over MASS GRAVES. rt.com 
The German memorial at former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald had to issue a bizarre warning, telling people to respect the dead, as some apparently went for sled rides over the mass graves. | In a It appealed to people to behave in a way that preserves the dignity of t…
(2021-01-15). Neo-fascists found their voice in Trump. Where will the left's voice come from? therealnews.com 
With COVID-19 still raging and Biden's inauguration around the corner, Warnock and Ossoff win big in Georgia, Trumpist insurgents storm the U.S. Capitol, and Democrats and Republicans seethe with internal strife. What's next?
(2021-01-15). The Shortage of Black Physicians is a Legacy of Racism and Class-Based Discrimination. counterpunch.org 
"Nobody wants to be an emergency at Harlem Hospital but if the Negro surgeon is visiting, pride cuts down the pain." Author Toni Morrison was alluding to the scarcity of Black physicians in 1926 (Jazz, 1992). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took similar note almost 100 years later. The basketball legend pointed out that, "Black babies survive more
(2021-01-15). A (Not-So-New) Profile of the American Right: On the Authoritarian-Fascist Crisis. counterpunch.org 
Following the January 6th neofascistic attacks on Capitol Hill, Americans are quickly waking up to the realities of growing extremism on the right. There is now a large share of reactionaries in this country who are drawing false equivalencies between Antifa and Black Lives Matter on the left, and the neofascists on the right. What
(2021-01-15). The Confederate battle flag, which rioters flew inside the US Capitol, has long been a symbol of white insurrection. juancole.com 
By Jordan Brasher | — Confederate soldiers never reached the Capitol during the Civil War. But the Confederate battle flag was flown by rioters in the U.S. Capitol building for the first time ever on Jan. 6. The flag's prominence in the Capitol riot comes as no surprise to those who, like me, know its …
(2021-01-15). Uruguay's Gender Violence Courts Have No Funding. telesurenglish.net Uruguay's Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) announced that it did not have the financial resources to create three gender-based violence courts, although the 2020-2024 Budget Law allocated funds for their establishment. | RELATED: | "This was already decided and we had a hard time getting it through Parliament," National Women's Institute (INMUJERES) director Monica Bottero said, stressing that "these courts must be created. | S…
(2021-01-15). Video: Israel and US Efforts in Large-scale Strikes on Iranian Infrastructure in Syria. globalresearch.ca The first two weeks of 2021 have, so far, been marked by an incredible increase in Israeli activity in the skies over Syria. | The most intense strike took place on January 13 morning hitting multiple Syrian and Iranian-affiliated targets in …
(2021-01-15). Racism in sport and why the media misses the point. greenleft.org.au When Indian cricketers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj reported racist abuse during the recent Sydney test match, Australia's ugly racism hit the headlines again. Sue Bull argues that the big media has an interest in muddying the connection between capitalism and racism.
(2021-01-15). Black Cops Warned About Racist Capitol Police Officers For Years. popularresistance.org When Kim Dine took over as the new chief of the U.S. Capitol Police in 2012, he knew he had a serious problem. | Since 2001, hundreds of Black officers had sued the department for racial discrimination. They alleged that white officers called Black colleagues slurs like the N-word and that one officer found a hangman's noose on his locker. White officers were called "huk lovers" or "FOGs" — short for "friends of gangsters" — if they were friendly with their Black colleagues. Black officers faced "unprovoked traffic stops" from fellow Capitol Police officers. One Black officer claimed he heard a collea…
(2021-01-15). Right-Wing Blames US Capitol Riot On Notorious Instigator. popularresistance.org The most dramatic footage to emerge from the far-right storming of the US Capitol on January 6 depicted the lethal shooting of Ashli Babbit, a pro-Trump activist and military veteran, by a Capitol Police officer. The man responsible for capturing that video was John Sullivan, a self-styled activist who has operated under aliases "Activist X," "Activist John," and "Jayden X." Since an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, who described him as a "left-wing activist," Sullivan has become Exhibit A in the right-wing's conspiratorial case claiming Antifa was responsible for the violence in the Capitol. | Through inter…
(2021-01-15). We Should Learn From Georgia to Show Us the Way Forward. commondreams.org Over slow generations, they built a broad enough "we" and an effective bottom up force that formed not just a victorious voting block this year, but a caring community dedicated explicitly to dismantling white supremacy. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2021-01-15). Patriotic Millionaires Statement on $15 Minimum Wage in Biden's "American Rescue Plan" commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2021-01-15). Fascist Wisconsin shooter Rittenhouse posed with Proud Boys and waved "white power" sign. wsws.org Kyle Rittenhouse, the right-wing vigilante who shot three anti-police violence protesters in Kenosha on August 25—two of them to death—was photographed celebrating at a bar with members of the fascist Proud Boys shortly after his January 5 arraignment and not guilty plea.
(2021-01-15). Social Media Giants Ban Trump, but the Real Censorship is of Palestinians. mintpressnews.com In the wake of the Capitol Hill insurrection, Facebook and Twitter finally took a principled stand against President Donald Trump by suspending his accounts. While Facebook, Twitter, and other social media behemoths have faced criticism over the years for allowing misinformation and dangerous incitement to run rampant on their pla…
(2021-01-15). FBI reveals "dozens" of neo-Nazis and white supremacists on Terror Watch List traveled to D.C. for January 6 coup. wsws.org In addition to active Republican politicians and off-duty military and police, many militiamen and fascists claiming membership in the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and III Percenters marched on the Capitol…
(2021-01-15). Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Born this Day: Prophet Who Saw the "Far Deeper Malady" globalresearch.ca January 15 is the day on which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929. | He would go on to become one of the most powerful voices of all time against racism, oppression, violence, imperialism, and …
(2021-01-15). Resistance is not Futile: A Brief History of Lebanon's Hezbollah. counterpunch.org Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has inspired fear within the Empire through both armed struggle and its success in electoral politics. For effectively wielding this double-edged sword, the "Party of God" has been vilified by countless politicians and media outlets. From its birth as an armed resistance to Israeli attacks on Lebanon over 35 years ago,