Category Archives: Demonstrations & Protests

Netanyahu is unlikely to listen to the West’s growing unease

The Israeli leader is emboldened by a hard-right coalition and frustrated with calls for humanitarian pause in Gaza

By Paul Rogers. Published 10-30-2023 by openDemocracy

Within a week of the 7 October atrocities, numerous Israeli Defence Force (IDF) units had converged on southern Israel close to Gaza. A major ground offensive was expected to start within days but the actual deployments into Gaza have not so far been substantial.

Possible factors in the delays included US president Joe Biden’s unexpected visit to Israel, negotiations with Hamas on hostage releases, and an announcement from the Pentagon that additional US air defence systems will be sent to the region. These are not specifically for Israel’s use but are primarily to offer additional protection to US personnel in bases in Iraq, Syria, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Drone and rocket attacks against some US bases have increased in the past two weeks, especially in Iraq, and many more are expected when the IDF starts a ground assault.

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As Gaza War Enters ‘Second Stage,’ Hundreds of Thousands March for Cease-Fire

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“This is not about Hamas. This is about protecting Palestinian lives,” one demonstrator said.

By Olivia Rosane. Published 10-28-2023 by Common Dreams

*Hundreds of thousands march for a cease-fire in Gaza on October 28, 2023. (Photo: Palestine Solidarity Campaign/Twitter)*

The day after Israel unleashed its most intensive bombing campaign against Gaza since October 7, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in cities around the world calling for a cease-fire and the protection of Palestinian lives.

Gaza lost all telephone and internet communication Friday night as Israeli officials said the country had entered the “next stage” of the war on Saturday as it expanded its operations on the ground.

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‘Never Again for Anyone’: Jewish Protesters Demanding Gaza Cease-Fire Arrested in Grand Central Station

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“While Shabbat is typically a day of rest, we cannot afford to rest while genocide is unfolding in our names,” said one rabbi.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 10-27-2023 by Common Dreams

*Jewish-led peace protesters take over the Grand Concourse in New York City’s Grand Central Station on October 27, 2023 to demand an immediate Gaza cease-fire. (Photo: Jewish Voice for Peace/X)*

As Israel intensified a war that’s already killed more than 7,300 Palestinians and displaced a majority of Gaza’s residents, hundreds of Jewish American protesters and allies were arrested after taking over New York’s Grand Central Station Friday evening for a sit-in demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Chanting slogans including “no more weapons, no more war, cease-fire’s what we’re fighting for” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” human rights defenders took over the station’s Grand Concourse, while others hung banners reading “Never Again for Anyone” and “Palestinians Should Be Free” from the stairway to the East Balcony.

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60% of US Oil and Gas Infrastructure Now Protected by Anti-Protest Laws: Greenpeace

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Fossil fuel companies have contributed millions of dollars to legislators who sponsored such laws, according to a new report.

By Olivia Rosane. Published 10-25-2023 by Common Dreams

*Photo: Joe Brusky/Overpass Light Brigade/flickr/cc*

In the seven years since the massive protests against the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock, the fossil fuel industry and their allies in politics and law enforcement have been hard at work to prevent a repeat: Around 60% of oil and gas infrastructure in the U.S. is now shielded by anti-protest laws that make direct action much riskier for activists and frontline communities who want to protect their local and global home from dangerous pollution, a new Greenpeace report has found.

The report, Dollars vs. Democracy 2023: Inside the Fossil Fuel Industry’s Playbook to Suppress Protest and Dissent in the United States, reveals that fossil fuel companies made up nine of the 10 most determined lobbyists for anti-protest measures since 2017 and that 25 oil, gas, coal, and energy companies contributed more than $5 million to legislators who sponsored these laws.

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Tens of Thousands of Women Strike in Iceland Over Pay Gap, Gender-Based Violence

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“An ‘equality paradise’ should not have a 21% wage gap and 40% of women experiencing gender-based or sexual violence in their lifetime,” said one organizer.

By Julia Conley. Published 10-24-2023 by Common Dreams

*Icelandic Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir is seen at a conference. (Photo: Herve Cortinat/OECD via flickr)*

Schools, health systems, and television broadcasters in Iceland were among the businesses that said they would have to close or reduce services on Tuesday due to the country’s first full-day women’s strike in nearly 50 years—potentially helping to prove the point that tens of thousands of women and non-binary workers are hoping to make by demonstrating that their labor is vital and must be paid accordingly.

Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir is among the women taking part in the “kvennafrí,” or “women’s day off,” and told reporters she expects women in her cabinet to strike as well, as organizers push to close Iceland’s gender pay gap and end gender-based violence.

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Hundreds of Thousands March in London Demanding ‘End to War on Gaza’

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The large-scale demonstration in the U.K. occurred as paltry levels of humanitarian aide were finally allowed through the southern border of Gaza, but nowhere near enough given the scale of death and destruction.

By Jon Queally. Published 10-21-2023 by Common Dreams

*People take part in a ‘March For Palestine,’ in London on October 21, 2023, to “demand an end to the war on Gaza.”* *Photo:* *Hope Worsdale*/X

Organizers and participants said hundreds of thousands of people were in the streets of central London on Saturday to demand an immediate cease-fire in Gaza as the Israeli military continued its bombardment of the besieged enclave a full two weeks after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

Organized by a coalition that includes the Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Stop the War Coalition, Muslim Association of Britain, Palestinian Forum in Britain, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the march also called for Israel to “end its occupation of Palestinian land and apartheid rule over the Palestinian people.”

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Brazil Inquiry Calls Bolsonaro ‘Author’ of Attempted Coup, Recommends Indictments

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The congressional probe’s rapporteur said the former far-right president and his supporters are culpable for the “greatest attack on democracy in our recent history.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 10-18-2023 by Common Dreams

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, seen here at the U.N. General Assembly’s 74th session on Sept. 24, 2019, said Wednesday that the fires and deforestation in his country aren’t coming to an end. (Photo: Cia Pak/U.N.)

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was the “intellectual and moral author of a coup movement” that culminated in the January 8, 2023 attacks on government buildings, and he and scores of his supporters should be criminally indicted for their “willful coup attempt,” an inquiry by Brazil’s Congress concluded Tuesday.

The final report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee of Investigation (CPMI) into the attempted coup was presented Tuesday by Sen. Eliziane Gama, a member of the Social Democratic Party from the northeastern state of Maranhão and special rapporteur for the probe. Gama said the evidence indicates Bolsonao and many of his far-right supporters should be indicted for criminal association, political violence, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, and coup d’état.

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If this is Israel’s 9/11, we should remember what happened next

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The US achieved nothing in the Middle East, but millions of civilians paid the price – the same will be true now

By Paul Rogers. Published 10-9-2023 by openDemocracy

After the devastating failure of the Israeli intelligence to foresee the sudden Hamas assault at the weekend, many Israelis are describing the huge loss of lives as ‘Israel’s 9/11’.

Although the two events cannot be fairly compared, given the attack on Israel came from a country it has occupied and inflicted a deadly and brutal regime of apartheid on for many decades, the assault by Hamas has had a similarly visceral impact.

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Sick and Tired of Industry Greed, Activists Across US Target For-Profit Health Insurers

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“I’m tired of insurance companies putting profit over people,” said one activist at a Chicago rally.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 10-12-2023 by Common Dreams

*Care Over Cost rally in Baltimore. Photo: Progressive Harford County/X*

Pushing back against insurers’ annual denial of nearly a quarter-billion healthcare claims or pre-authorization requests, activists rallied in more than a dozen U.S. cities on Wednesday to demand “an end to private health insurance industry greed so people can get the care they need when they need it.”

The Care Over Cost Campaign—a national grassroots initiative launched by the advocacy group People’s Action—held rallies in cities including Baltimore, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Detroit Michigan; Portland, Maine; and Hartford, Connecticut, known as the “insurance capital of the world.” The campaign called on the industry lobby group America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) to “direct its members to put people over profit.”

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‘Stop Cop City’ Campaigners Decry State’s Refusal to Charge Georgia Troopers Who Shot Activist 57 Times

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“The system has, once again, declared its own innocence,” lamented one activist after a Georgia prosecutor’s office said it would not charge the killers of Manuel Terán, better known as “Tortuguita.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 10-6-2023 by Common Dreams

*Manuel Terán, aka “Tortuguita”—”Little Turtle”—was shot and killed by police outside Atlanta, Georgia on January 18, 2022. (Photo: Unicorn Riot)*

Human rights advocates on Friday condemned a Georgia prosecutor’s decision to not charge the state troopers who fatally shot forest defender Manuel Esteban Paez Terán—better known as “Tortuguita”—during a militarized January raid at a Stop Cop City protest camp outside Atlanta.

“The system has, once again, declared its own innocence,” Stop Cop City activist Micah Herskind wrote on social media in response to the decision by the Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s office.

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Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Category Archives: Demonstrations & Protests