Tag Archives: Rashida Tlaib

Students Demanding Protection for Pro-Palestinian Activism Arrested at House Hearing on Campus Speech

“Palestinian students deserve to speak on the genocide of their families,” said one protester as they were led out of the room by police.

By Julia Conley. Published 11-8-2023 by Common Dreams

A pro-Palestinian rights protester holds a sign saying that “Pro-Palestine is not equal to Antisemitism” at a hearing held by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on November 8, 2023. (Photo: @codepink/Twitter)

The limits of the Republican-led U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s views on freedom of speech were on full display Wednesday shortly after a hearing on “Free Speech on College Campuses” began, when several pro-Palestinian rights demonstrators were removed from the hearing room and arrested for speaking out.

The committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), invited representatives of conservative and pro-Zionist groups including Young Americans for Freedom and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to speak about what Jordan called “hostility towards certain points of view, in particular conservative points of view” amid growing outrage over Israel’s U.S.-backed assault on Gaza and the West Bank.

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400+ Actions to End Fossil Fuels Planned Around the World for Sept. 15-17

“When we the people use our collective power we can win,” said one campaigner.

By Julia Conley. Published 9-11-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Extinction Rebellion

“September 15-17, 2023. Everywhere.”

Those are the dates and location of the international mobilization against fossil fuels set to take place this coming weekend, and the last word is hardly an exaggeration as organizers with the Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels report that more than 400 actions, marches, rallies, and other events have already been registered around the world.

More than 780 organizations have endorsed the day of action—up from 500 less than a week ago—and millions of participants are expected to rally from Cape Town, South Africa to Manila, Philippines and Lahore, Pakistan, as well as in dozens of cities and towns across the United States, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in history.

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UPS Teamsters Overwhelmingly Approve ‘Historic’ New Contract, Averting Strike

“This is the template for how workers should be paid and protected nationwide, and nonunion companies like Amazon better pay attention,” said Teamsters president Sean O’Brien.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-22-2023 by Common Dreams

In Canarsie, Brooklyn, UPS Teamsters from Local 804 rallied in front of a UPS Customer Center on April 21. Photo: Peoples Dispatch

United Parcel Service workers in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday overwhelmingly ratified what the union called “the most historic collective bargaining agreement in the history of UPS,” avoiding what experts said would have been a crippling strike.

Teamsters members voted by 86.3% to approve the new tentative contract, which raises wages for full- and part-time workers, creates more full-time jobs, and secures “important workplace protections, including air conditioning.”

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War Industry ‘Celebrating Christmas Early’ as House Passes $858 Billion NDAA

“There is no justification to throw… $858 billion at the Pentagon when we’re told we can’t afford child tax credit expansion, universal paid leave, or other basic human necessities,” said the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. “End of story.”

By Brett Wilkins.  Published 12-8-2022 by Common Dreams

Class of 2022 cadets participate in a live-fire exercise as part of their Cadet Field Training. Photo: Matthew Moeller (US Army)/flickr/CC

Peace advocates on Thursday slammed the House of Representatives’ passage of a mammoth $858 billion military spending bill as an early holiday gift for the Pentagon and the weapons corporations who benefit from the United States’ ongoing—but largely forgotten—War on Terror.

House lawmakers voted 350-80 in favor of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with 45 Democrats and 35 Republicans voting “no.”

The new NDAA authorizes an $80 billion military spending increase over the 2022 bill, and $118 billion more than when President Joe Biden took office in 2021. The 2023 allocation is more than the combined military budgets of China, India, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Korea, according to the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). It’s also more than the annual gross domestic product of countries including Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey, based on United Nations figures. Continue reading

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Israel Refuses to Cooperate With US Probe Into Palestinian-American Journalist’s Killing

Israeli officials condemned the FBI investigation, while Shireen Abu Akleh’s family expressed hope that the probe will lead to accountability for those responsible.

By Julia Conley  Published 11-15-2022 by Common Dreams

Funeral of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh after her assassination in Palestine. Photo: alwatan_live/Wikimedia Commons/CC

The family of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh expressed hope Tuesday that the FBI’s newly announced investigation into her death will bring them “closer to justice,” as Israeli officials said they will not cooperate with the FBI and condemned the U.S. for opening a probe at all.

Israeli Foreign Minister Benny Gantz suggested the Biden administration should accept the “professional, independent investigation” already conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which concluded that the bullet that killed Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank in May was too damaged to determine who had fired it. Continue reading

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‘Good Trouble’: 17 House Democrats Arrested Protesting Roe Reversal at Supreme Court

“Even though they arrested us, we won’t stop our organizing, agitating, and legislating for justice,” declared Rep. Cori Bush.

By Jessica Corbett  Published 7-19-2022 by Common Dreams

Representatives Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Photo: Cori Bush/Twitter

Several members of Congress were among the demonstrators arrested outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday while protesting right-wing justices’ recent ruling against the constitutional right to abortion.

“Today I was arrested in a civil disobedience action at the Supreme Court to protest Roe v. Wade getting overturned and the assault on reproductive rights across the country,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in a statement.

“Our reproductive rights are under assault across the country, thanks to an extremist court with little regard for precedent or our basic rights,” she added. “I will do whatever it takes, including putting my body on the line, to protect our reproductive rights.”

Analilia Mejia, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy Action, said that “today, the CPDA network and Democratic members of Congress sent a powerful message to Republican lawmakers and SCOTUS: We will not back down.”

U.S. Capitol Police confirmed in a tweet Tuesday that officers arrested 35 people, including 17 members of Congress, for “crowding, obstructing, or incommoding.”

Others arrested include Reps. Alma Adams (D-N.C.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Andy Levin (D-Mich.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.).

“This Supreme Court has been relentless in stripping away our reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy, but we’re not backing down,” said Pressley. “Today, we put our bodies on the line to defend abortion rights because the stakes in this fight could not be higher.”

Pressley noted that “due to the cruelty and callousness of this court, millions of people now face insurmountable barriers to abortion care and the health of our most vulnerable—especially our Black, Brown, low-income, disabled, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ siblings—is now further at risk.”

“I’m grateful to all of the advocates on the frontline of this fight who led us in peaceful protest today and have been leading this movement for generations,” she added. “Abortion rights are human rights, and we won’t stop fighting until our policies and budgets reflect that fundamental truth.”

Chants at the demonstration included “shut it down,” referring to the high court, and: “What do we want? Freedom! When do we want it? Now!”

Lawmakers and others in the road were warned, “Cease and desist or you will be arrested.”

Bush—who on Monday introduced legislation to boost access to medication abortion—shared a photo of fellow “Squad” members at the demonstration and vowed that “even though they arrested us, we won’t stop our organizing, agitating, and legislating for justice.”

Some of the participants invoked the words of the late John Lewis. The civil rights leader who became a Democratic congressman and represented Georgia for over three decades famously encouraged getting into “good trouble” when fighting against injustices.

Referencing anti-choice legislation recently enacted by GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican state legislators, Escobar said:

Protesting injustice in our country is as old as our democracy itself; it is a cornerstone of our history, a principle of our nation, and a faithful mechanism for the will of the people to be heard. That is why, in the face of unprecedented attacks on abortion access and reproductive justice, like the draconian laws and anti-woman agenda we are seeing from the Texas state Legislature, Gov. Abbott, and the Supreme Court, I joined several of my colleagues in front of the highest court in the land to make good trouble.

My arrest today for civil disobedience was a small act in the centuries-long battle to ensure every woman has the freedom to make personal decisions with those they love and trust without politicians trying to control them. We stand on the shoulders of giants whose struggle against injustices everywhere lights the way forward: The fight didn’t start here, and it’s far from over.

Levin, the only male lawmaker arrested, tweeted that “I’m always down to stir up #GoodTrouble and fight for our rights. We cannot give in to this extremist, right-wing court. I’m angry and ready for ACTION!”

In a recent opinion piece for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) noted that July 17 marked the two-year anniversary of Lewis’ death. The congresswoman suggested that if her “friend, mentor, and predecessor” were still alive, “he would be moved to act, like he did throughout his entire life,” in response to “the Supreme Court’s cruel and damaging decision to strip more than half the country of their right to access abortion.”

Watson Coleman pointed out that “on Friday, Democrats in the House passed legislation to protect the right to choose.”

Although House Democrats approved the Women’s Health Protection Act and Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, neither bill is expected to get through the Senate due to the filibuster rule and obstruction by the GOP as well as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

Maloney highlighted that while overturning Roe was a longtime ambition of Republicans in U.S. politics, they are not likely to stop there.

“The Republican Party and the right-wing extremists behind this decision are not pro-life, but pro-controlling the bodies of women, girls, and any person who can become pregnant,” she said. “Their ultimate goal is to institute a national ban on abortion. We will not let them win. We will be back.”

This work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
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Low-Income Americans to Congress: ‘I Am the Cost of Cutting Build Back Better’

“We need to stop asking, ‘How much does a bold Build Back Better agenda cost?’ and instead ask, ‘How much does it cost not to Build Back Better?'” said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II.

By Kenny Stancil, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 10-28-2021

With President Joe Biden and many congressional Democrats bowing to right-wing party members’ demands to gut their once far-reaching agenda to tax corporations and the wealthy to fund expanded public benefits and climate action, low-income people from across the United States convened in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to say that “I am the cost of cutting the Build Back Better plan.”

“We need to stop asking, ‘How much does a bold Build Back Better agenda cost?’ and instead ask, ‘How much does it cost not to Build Back Better?'” Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach, said during Wednesday’s rally, which was organized by the Poor Peoples’ Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, an effort that he co-chairs. Continue reading

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Utilities Took $1.25 Billion in Pandemic Aid Then Shut Off Power to Households Nearly 1 Million Times: Report

“These companies took bailout dollars from taxpayers and turned around to lobby against shutoff moratoria proven to save lives.”

By Brett Wilkins, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 9-30-2021

A new report from BailoutWatch and the Center for Biological Diversity reveals that leading U.S. utilities took $1.25 billion in pandemic relief funds even as they cut off power to vulnerable households nearly a million times. Photo: Matt Wiebe/Flickr/cc

Over a dozen leading U.S. utility companies took more than a billion dollars of publicly-funded pandemic bailout money while pulling the plug on power to vulnerable households nearly a million times, according to a new report out Thursday.

The Center for Biological Diversity and BailoutWatch report—entitled Powerless in the Pandemic: After Bailouts, Electric Utilities Choose Profits Over People—details how utilities used their political power “to secure bailouts that cost taxpayers $1.25 billion, cushioning them from the pandemic economy,” while disconnecting vital services from some of the most vulnerable U.S. households. Continue reading

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House Dems Unveil Bill to Stop Wall Street From Destroying the Planet

“The Federal Reserve’s role is not to surrender our planet to corporate polluters and shepherd our financial system to its destruction,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib, among the Democrats urging the Fed to end fossil fuel financing.

By Kenny Stancil, staff writer for Common Dreams.  Published 9-15-2021

The Marathon Oil refinery in St. Paul Park, MN. Photo: Tony Webster/Wikimedia/CC

Progressives on Wednesday applauded Democratic Reps. Mondaire Jones, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib for unveiling a bill that would prevent Wall Street from continuing to bankroll fossil fuels, the primary driver of the climate emergency.

The Fossil Free Finance Act (pdf) would require the Federal Reserve to mandate, via regulation or guidance, that all banks and other financial insitutions with more than $50 billion in assets phase out the funding of coal, oil, and gas extraction as well as industries linked to deforestation, in accordance with science-based targets for slashing carbon pollution. Continue reading

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How social media – aided by bots – amplifies Islamophobia online

Islamophobia has changed in the 20 years since Sept. 11. Now, much of it plays out on social media.
Atilgan Ozdil/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Saif Shahin, American University

In August 2021, a Facebook ad campaign criticizing Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the United States’ first Muslim congresswomen, came under intense scrutiny. Critics charged that the ads linked the congresswomen with terrorism, and some faith leaders condemned the campaign as “Islamophobic” – that is, spreading fear of Islam and hatred against Muslims.

This was hardly the first time the pair faced Islamophobic or racist abuse, especially on the internet. As a communications professor who studies the politics of race and identity online, I have seen that Omar is often a target of white nationalist attacks on Twitter. Continue reading

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