All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Mexican Students Didn’t Just ‘Disappear’

dorset chiapas solidarity

Mexican Students Didn’t Just ‘Disappear’

Describing them as ‘missing’ is missing the context

By Andalusia Knoll

MexB Large anti-government demonstrations were held across Mexico in the wake of the disappearance of 43 student teachers abducted in Iguala, Guerrero, in September

The forced disappearance of 43 students from a rural teachers college in Mexico has catapulted the security crisis that the US’s southern neighbours are living into northern headlines. However, the majority of English-language news accounts have failed to provide a deeper context concerning the failed war on drugs and the use of forced disappearances as a repressive state tactic, and employ language that often criminalizes the disappeared students.

On the night of September 26, approximately 80 students in the south-western state of Guerrero were travelling through the small city of Iguala in a bus caravan on their way back to their teacher training college in Ayotzinapa. In Iguala they were intercepted by municipal…

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El-Sisi and Human Rights in Egypt

Nervana

Sisi

(Photo via Reuters)

In a change of tune, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi acknowledged on Tuesday that Egypt’s police committed human rights abuses after the overthrow of his predecessor, but said they were expected given the “exceptional” security threats faced by the country.

Here is my brief interview with Radio France Internationale on why El- Sisi has changed his tune and what we should expect from him.

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Hebron: Israeli Forces Weld Palestinian Homes Shut

Israeli forces Monday welded Aamal Hashem Dundes front doors shut. Living in a rented apartment across the street, her family had owned these two houses for centuries on Shuhada Street, most of which is closed to Palestinians.

Aamal sat on a chair, at times crying, as she, her daughter, Palestinian residents, activists and journalists, and internationals from CPT and ISM questioned the soldiers who were carrying out the illegal act. At one point she picked up her chair and sat in front of her house in an act of resistance, before she was forced to move.

via Hebron: Israeli Forces Weld Palestinian Homes Shut.

RNC Turns Deaf Ear To Questions About Trip Funded by Hate Group | Hatewatch

Last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) faxed and sent letters to every member of the Republican National Committee (RNC) regarding an upcoming trip to Jerusalem being organized by RNC Chair Reince Priebus.

The letters expressed concern about the organization paying for the trip, the American Family Association (AFA), which the SPLC has listed as an anti-LGBT hate group since 2010.

In particular, the letters asked RNC members not to lend their good offices to an organization with a long track record of making anti-LGBT, anti-Muslim and other hateful statements. An email to Priebus’ director of communications about this matter was not responded to.

via RNC Turns Deaf Ear To Questions About Trip Funded by Hate Group | Hatewatch.

Middle East – Shiite militiamen seize Yemen presidential palace – France 24

And how long will it take the Saudi’s to react?

Shiite militiamen on Tuesday seized the presidential palace in Yemen, a day after some of the worst battles in the capital in years, officials said.

Shiite militiamen on Tuesday seized the presidential palace in Yemen, a day after some of the worst battles in the capital in years, officials said.

Shiite militiamen on Tuesday seized the presidential palace in Yemen, a day after some of the worst battles in the capital in years, officials said.

The Houthi fighters, who control the capital Saana, entered the compound housing President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi’s main office after a brief clash with security guards.

UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon told an emergency Security Council meeting that he was “gravely concerned” over reports of the apparent bid to overthrow Hadi, and urged “all sides to immediately cease all hostilities, exercise maximum restraint, and take the necessary steps to restore full authority to the legitimate government institutions.”

Witnesses said the militia fighters also clashed with troops protecting the president’s residence, shelling the building after having seized several armoured vehicles parked in front of it.

via Middle East – Shiite militiamen seize Yemen presidential palace – France 24.

Tests reveal H5N1 in Israeli turkeys, four countries report other strains | CIDRAP

{Will resist joke about Israeli turkeys and their upcoming elections – but too many have been looking the other way or have had heads in sand hoping that global trade in live chicks of ducks, turkeys, geese, chickens, quail did not

blow up in their our faces. Problem has now come home to roost and attempts to “blame” wild birds will not fly!}

Israel outbreak details

Israel’s agriculture ministry said tests have confirmed H5N1 as the cause of an outbreak at a turkey farm in Haifa, the largest city in the northern part of the country, according to a Jan 18 report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). The event began on Jan 14 at a fattening facility, with deaths occurring in 5 of the farm’s 13 pens. Of 141,000 susceptible birds, the illness sickened 30,000 of them, killing 15,000.

via Tests reveal H5N1 in Israeli turkeys, four countries report other strains | CIDRAP.