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A year after new Bangladesh leader vows reform, journalists still behind bars

Kunal Majumder/CPJ India Representative — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 14:45:39 +0000

On March 5, 2025, in a crowded Dhaka courtroom, journalist Farzana Rupa stood without a lawyer as a judge moved to register yet another murder case against her. Already in jail, she quietly asked for bail. The judge said the hearing was only procedural.

“There are already a dozen cases piling up against me,” she said. “I’m a journalist. One murder case is enough to frame me.”

Rupa, a former chief correspondent at privately owned broadcaster Ekattor TV, now faces nine murder cases. Her husband, Shakil Ahmed, the channel’s former head of news, is named in eight.

A year ago, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge of Bangladesh’s interim government after Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following weeks of student-led protests, during which two journalists were killed.

Yunus promised media reform and repealed the Cyber Security Act, a law used to target journalists under Hasina. But in a November 2024 interview with newspaper The Daily Star, Yunus said that murder accusations against journalists were being made hastily. He said the government had since halted such actions and that a committee had been formed to review the cases.

Still, nearly a year later, Rupa, Ahmed, Shyamal Dutta and Mozammel Haque Babu, arrested on accusations of instigating murders in separate cases, remain behind bars. The repeated use of such charges against journalists who are widely seen as sympathetic to the former regime appear to be politically motivated censorship.

In addition to such legal charges, CPJ has documented physical attacks against journalists, threats from political activists, and exile. At least 25 journalists are under investigation for genocide by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal – a charge that has been used to target figures linked to the former Hasina government.

“Keeping four journalists behind bars without credible evidence a year on undermines the interim government’s stated commitment to protect press freedom,” said CPJ Regional Director Beh Lih Yi. “Real reform means breaking from the past, not replicating its abuses. All political parties must respect journalists’ right to report as the country is set for polls in coming months.”

A CPJ review of legal documents and reports found that journalists are often added to First Information Reports (FIRs) – documents that open an investigation – long after they are filed. In May, UN experts raised concern that over 140 journalists had been charged with murder following last year’s protests.

Shyamal Dutta’s daughter, Shashi, told CPJ the family has lost track of how many cases he now faces. They are aware of at least six murder cases in which he is named, while Babu’s family is aware of 10. Rupa and Ahmed’s family told CPJ that they haven’t received FIRs for five cases in which one or the other journalist has been named, which means that neither can apply for bail.

Shafiqul Alam, Yunus’s press secretary, and police spokesperson Enamul Haque Sagor did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.

Violence and threats

In 2025, reporters across Bangladesh have faced violence and harassment while covering political events, with CPJ documenting at least 10 such incidents, most of which were carried out by members or affiliates of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its student wing, Chhatra Dal. In several instances, journalists sustained serious injuries or were prevented from reporting after footage was deleted or phones seized, including Bahar Raihan, Abdullah Al Mahmud, and Rocky Hossain.

Responding to the allegations, Mahdi Amin, adviser to Acting BNP Chair Tarique Rahman, told CPJ that while isolated misconduct may occur in a party of BNP’s size, the party does not protect wrongdoers.

Others have faced threats from supporters of different political parties and the student groups that led the protests against Hasina. Reporters covering opposition groups like Jamaat-e-Islami or its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, have come under particular pressure. On June 9, Hasanat Kamal, editor of EyeNews.news, told CPJ he’d fled to the United Kingdom after being falsely accused by Islami Chhatra Shibir of participating in a violent student protest. Anwar Hossain, a journalist for the local daily Dabanol, told CPJ he’d been threatened by Jamaat supporters after publishing negative reports about a local party leader.

CPJ reached out via messaging app to Abdus Sattar Sumon, a spokesperson for Jamaat-e-Islami, but received no response.

Since Hasina’s ouster, student protesters from the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement (ADSM) have increasingly targeted journalists they accuse of supporting the former regime, which in one case led to the firing of five journalists. Student-led mobs have also besieged outlets like Prothom Alo and The Daily Star.

CPJ reached out via messaging app to ADSM leader Rifat Rashid but received no response.

On July 14, exiled investigative journalist Zulkarnain Saer Khan, who fled Bangladesh after exposing alleged high-level corruption under Hasina and receiving threats from Awami League officials, posted on X about the repression of the media: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Kunal Majumder/CPJ India Representative.

Burundi journalist Sandra Muhoza still behind bars, two months after appeal ruling

CPJ Staff — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 21:00:30 +0000

Kampala, July 31, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Burundi authorities to immediately release La Nova Burundi reporter Sandra Muhoza, who remains in prison two months after an appeal court ruled that she was convicted by a court that did not have jurisdiction to try her, following her 2024 arrest.

“It is a grave injustice that Sandra Muhoza remains behind bars two months after an appeal court effectively invalidated her earlier trial and conviction,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities must do the right thing and release Muhoza without further delay.”

In December 2024, Mukaza High Court, in eastern Bujumbura province, convicted Muhoza of undermining the integrity of Burundi’s national territory and inciting ethnic hatred, in connection with comments she made in a journalists’ WhatsApp group, and sentenced her 21 months in prison.

The Bujumbura Mairie Court of Appeal, in a May 30, 2025judgment reviewed by CPJ, said that it and the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to hear Muhoza’s case. It cited a law on judicial procedures, which stipulates that a defendant should be tried by a court in the region where they were arrested, live, or where the crime was allegedly committed.

Muhoza was arrested in the northern Ngozi region where she lived. The appeal court ordered that the case be referred to a competent court.

Burundian authorities have previously convicted other journalists for anti-state crimes, such as Floriane Irangabiye, who in 2023 was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of undermining the integrity of the national territory. She was released in August 2024, following a presidential pardon.

CPJ’s emails to the justice ministry, and text messages to justice minister Domine Banyankimbona, interior ministry spokesperson Pierre Nkurikiye, Prosecutor General’s Office spokesperson Agnès Bagiricenge, and government spokesperson Jérôme Niyonzima did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

A Japanese Woman Called “Tornado”: Samurai Action in an 18th Century Scottish Setting

Caoimhghin O Croidheain — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 14:19:05 +0000

Tornado (2025) is a new action drama film written and directed by the Scottish film director, screenwriter and musician, John Maclean.

It is set in Scotland in the 1790s and follows the travails of a young Japanese woman called Tornado who is on the run from a local violent gang led by Sugarman. The story is told in a series of set pieces played out in a remote country setting as the gang pursues Tornado for two bags of gold which she had obtained from a young boy who in turn had taken from the gang members while they were busy watching a puppet show put on by Tornado and her father, Fujin.

The narrative begins with Tornado running into a decaying, dilapidated mansion and hiding while the gang threatens the family. While searching throughout the house one member of the gang falls from the floor above onto an old grand piano.

A flashback shows Tornado working with Fujin, a former samurai swordsman, who has trained Tornado in the skills of martial arts and puppetry. However, Tornado is bored of both and is looking for excitement and a change in lifestyle. The gold provides the possibility of a new life which prompts Tornado to ask her father about doing something else with their lives [“Don’t you ever wish our lives were different?”]. The gang eventually catches up with their wagon but Tornado runs into the woods and hides the gold. However, all ends in disaster as Fujin is shot by the gang’s archer, but with all the speed of a former samurai, he manages to cut Sugarman across the stomach as he falls, injuring him fatally.

Back in the present Tornado has joined up with a circus troupe who she knows well. Once again the gang catches up and then goes on a killing and burning spree. Tornado flees again and finds the gold which she brings to a local lake. Taking a small rowing boat she goes out to the middle and drops the two bags into the water, keeping a small amount of the gold for herself.

At this point Tornado’s samurai skills kick in and she exacts revenge on the gang, unable to contain her grief and anger over the deaths of her father and her friends in the circus.

Minimalism

The style of the film music, editing, and dialogue, is minimalist. The action scenes are interspersed with quiet, empty countryside scenes, like moving from one mini play to the next, each mini play containing its own symbolism.

For example, Sugarman believes in honour among thieves [“Alright, get this to the safe spot, and equal share as always.”] A democratic bent which none of the gang members seem to share, as they are depicted as conniving to get all of the gold to themselves [“the work wasn’t equal, so why should this split be?”].

The mansion symbolises the declining aristocracy and the growing strength of a robber class – they had robbed the gold from the church which in turn had ‘robbed’ it from the peasantry. The piano is a symbol of former cultural glory destroyed by contemporary ignorance and criminality.

The confrontation between Sugarman and Fujin represents the conflict between the raw violence of the gang and the controlled, learned, violence of the samurai warrior. Twice Fujin states he has no wish for violence [“I do not want to hurt anyone.” “I do not want to fight you.”]

The gang attacks the circus, a symbolic confrontation between one group of people that uses violence to extort, and another group that uses their skills and knowledge to earn their living.

Tornado slowly realises that the gold has caused her and her friends nothing but destruction and death and so she reverts back to her survival skills and decides to dump most of the gold into the lake, thereafter attacking and killing the gang members one by one.

Tornado is a pared down, sparse film that operates not only as a revenge movie but also as an eighteenth century morality play, a genre of medieval drama:

Morality plays typically contain a protagonist who represents humanity as a whole, or an average layperson, or a human faculty; supporting characters are personifications of abstract concepts, each aligned with either good or evil, virtue or vice. The clashes between the supporting characters often catalyze a process of experiential learning for the protagonist, and, as a result, provide audience members and/or readers with moral guidance, reminding them to meditate and think upon their relationship to God, as well as their social and/or religious community.

Tornado’s ‘experiential learning’ teaches her that money may be the root of all evil but running away from oppressors merely emboldens them. By standing up to the gang and ultimately joining up with the circus she finds solace in solidarity with her social community. Her father’s comment during the puppet show that “They always cheer when evil is winning”, to which Tornado replies, “Because good is boring” is turned on its head as Tornado realises that the world of evil is irrational and unpredictable as those nearest and dearest to her fall prey to its destructive forces. This new opposing view falls in line with Simone Weil’s comment that: “Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.” (Simone Weil Gravity and Grace)

In the end, the multicultural aspect of the circus community symbolises the positive aspects of external, international influences on the home community / local people as a force for good to which Tornado aligns herself with.

Tornado (2025) is John Maclean’s second feature film after Slow West (2015). Slow West has a similar structure depicting a young Scotsman’s search for “his lost love in the American West, accompanied by a bounty hunter played by Michael Fassbender.” As the pair head West through forests and plains, a similar style of theatrical set pieces tell many different aspects of the story with a comparable respect for and understanding of ordinary people in conflict with murderous gangs. Similarly peace only comes after a major confrontation with the main gang (of cowboys) who are usually portrayed as heroes in the cowboy genre.

John Maclean’s films are measured, intelligent and beautifully filmed works of art with a human face that eschew the ‘might is right’ ideologies of much contemporary cinema.

The post A Japanese Woman Called “Tornado”: Samurai Action in an 18th Century Scottish Setting first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Caoimhghin O Croidheain.

CPJ, partners call on Georgia to free Mzia Amaglobeli ahead of verdict

CPJ Staff — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:58:53 +0000

New York, July 31, 2025—Ahead of Friday’s expected verdict in the trial of journalist Mzia Amaglobeli, the Committee to Protect Journalists and 13 other media and human rights groups called on Georgian authorities to drop the charge against her and release her.

Amaglobeli, founder and director of award-winning independent news outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti, has been unjustly detained since January on the charge of attacking a police officer, for which she faces up to seven years in jail. The charge has been widely condemned as disproportionate and politically motivated.

The organizations condemned the smear campaigns against and degrading treatment of Amaglobeli, who has become a symbol of the resilience of Georgian independent media.

Read the full statement here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Trump EPA Sabotages Climate Action With Rollbacks of Tailpipe Rules, Endangerment Finding

Newswire Editor — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 18:04:27 +0000

President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency today rolled back tailpipe pollution standards and rescinded the landmark scientific finding that planet-heating pollution harms public health and welfare, which is a foundation of federal climate action.

Both the Biden EPA standards to reduce pollution from cars and trucks and the Obama EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding were based on overwhelming scientific evidence that has only become more robust. The proposals, if adopted, will create more pollution and lock in more damage to our air and climate in the future.

“This cynical one-two punch allows Trump’s Flat Earth EPA to slam the brakes on reducing auto pollution and ignore urgent warnings from the world’s leading scientists about the need for climate action,” said Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transport Campaign. “By revoking this key scientific finding Trump is putting fealty to Big Oil over sound science and people’s health. These proposals are a giant gift to oil companies that will do real damage to people, wildlife and future generations. The administration can’t even pretend the science facts have changed. It’s purely a political bow to the oil industry.”

Revoking life-saving clean air standards that slash auto pollution will allow automakers to make cars that guzzle more gas and pollute more. Rescinding the endangerment finding will make it harder for federal agencies to take steps that cut heat-trapping greenhouse gas pollution from cars, trucks, power plants, factories and agriculture.

The administration falsely claims that U.S. pollution doesn’t matter. The United States is the second-largest carbon polluter in the world after China, and the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gasses. The U.S. emitted 11% of the world’s greenhouse gases in 2021, and during Trump’s first term his administration admitted that emissions in excess of 3% were “significant.”

“This is the most pro-combustion administration since Nero. Trump is delivering higher gas pump sales to Big Oil and higher gas pump costs and unhealthy air to us and our kids,” said Becker. “To famous lies like ‘cigarettes don’t cause cancer,’ we can now add Trump’s claim that pollution from millions of cars is healthier than rules cleaning them up. Trump’s lies have serious consequences, and this one is far worse than taking a Sharpie to a hurricane map. Generations of Americans will suffer because of it.”

The vehicle rules Trump plans to scrap would cut 7 billion metric tons of emissions and saved the average American driver $6,000 in fuel and maintenance costs over the lifetimes of the vehicles made under the standards.

“The EPA is revoking the biggest single step any nation has taken to save oil, save consumers money at the pump and combat global warming. The Trump administration’s actions will worsen heart and lung disease, sicken kids with asthma, and stoke deadly wildfires, storms and floods,” Becker said. “It’s outrageous to justify this recklessness with the ridiculous claim that cutting planet-warming pollution is more expensive than the billions it will cost consumers at the pump and the hospital because of climate devastation. We’ll fight them every step of the way.”

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.

Pacific Islands military veterans hope for US action over benefits

APR editor — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 01:30:49 +0000

By Giff Johnson, editor, Marshall Islands Journal/RNZ Pacific correspondent

United States military veterans in the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau received increased attention during the Biden Administration after years of neglect by the US Veterans Administration.

That progress came to a halt with the incoming Trump Administration in Washington in January, when the new Veterans Administration put many programmes on hold.

Marshall Islands Foreign Minister and US military veteran Kalani Kaneko said he is hopeful of resuming the momentum for veterans living in the freely associated states.

READ MORE: Other US veterans reports

Two key actions during the Biden administration helped to elevate interest in veterans living in the freely associated states:

The administration’s appointment of a Compact of Free Association (COFA) Committee that included the ambassadors to Washington from the three nations, including Marshall Islands Ambassador Charles Paul, and US Cabinet-level officials.
The US Congress passed legislation establishing an advisory committee for the Veterans Administration for Compact veterans.
Kalani Kaneko was appointed as chairman to a three-year term, which expires in September.

Kaneko said he submitted a report to the Veterans Administration recently on its activities and needs.

The Foreign Minister said it is now up to the current administration of the Veterans Administration to take next steps to reappoint members of the advisory committee or to name a new group.

Virtually non-existent
Kaneko pointed out that in contrast to its virtually non-existent programme in the Marshall Islands, FSM and Palau, the VA’s programme for veterans is “robust” in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Citizens of the three compact nations enlist in the US military at higher rates per capita than Americans.

But when they leave the service and return home to their islands, they have historically received none of the benefits accorded to US veterans living in the United States.

Kaneko and island leaders have been trying to change this by getting the Veterans Administration to provide on-island services and to pay for medical referrals of veterans when locally available medical services are not available.

Kaneko said the 134-page report submitted in June contained five major recommendations for improved services for veterans from the US-affiliated islands:

Establish a VA clinic in Majuro with an accredited doctor and nurse.
Authorise use of the Marshall Islands zip code for US pharmacies to mail medicines to veterans here (a practice that is currently prohibited).
If the level of healthcare in Marshall Islands cannot provide a service needed by a veteran, they should be able to be referred to hospitals in other countries.
Due to the delays in obtaining appointments at VA hospitals in the US, the report recommends allowing veterans to use the Marshall Islands referral system to the Philippines to access the US Veterans Administration clinic in Manila.
Support and prioritise the access of veterans to US Department of Agriculture Rural Development housing loans and grants.

Kaneko said he is hopeful of engagement by high-level Veterans Administration officials at an upcoming meeting to review the report and other reports related to services for Compact nation veterans.

But, he cautioned, because there was nothing about compact veterans in President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” passed recently by the US Congress, it means fiscal year 2027 — starting October 1, 2026 — would be the earliest to see any developments for veterans in the islands.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

How musicians and concert venues are upping the tempo on climate action

Zack O’Malley Greenburg — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 08:30:00 +0000

It’s less than an hour before the Dave Matthews Band takes the stage on a sunny Thursday evening on the coast of Long Island — but the biggest crowds at the Northwell at Jones Beach Theater aren’t at the tequila bar. They’re in the “eco-village” operated by Reverb, a nonprofit focused on greening live music by inspiring fans to take action around climate change.

As I wander through tents emblazoned with the logos of organizations like the Nature Conservancy and Generation180, volunteers explain how fans can reduce their carbon footprints and join the clean energy transition. The longest line emanates from Reverb’s flagship tent, where batches of limited-edition blue-and-yellow Nalgene bottles hang from tent poles like so many coconuts from a grove of palm trees.

Fans acquire the bottles by making a $20 donation, which enters them into a raffle to win a guitar signed by Matthews; they can fill their bottles at a nearby filtered water station. It’s all part of “RockNRefill,” a partnership between Reverb, Nalgene, and the Nature Conservancy. The program has raised $5 million for climate and conservation nonprofits and eliminated an estimated 4 million single-use plastic bottles.

“It’s cutting down on single-use plastics, so we hope everybody takes a bottle home or brings it back to another show,” says Dan Hutnik, Reverb’s onsite coordinator. “We’re trying to help save the planet — I like to say, one water bottle at a time.” (I bought one of the Nalgenes, but didn’t win a signed guitar.)

Concertgoers wander around the Reverb eco-village at Dave Matthews’ show at the Northwell at Jones Beach Theater. Zack O’Malley Greenburg

With this year’s summer touring season in full swing, the Dave Matthews Band’s efforts are just one example of the increased focus on sustainability in live music over the past several years. Decades after trailblazers like Bonnie Raitt began to prioritize climate, more and more artists are embracing sustainability and pushing for change — both inside and outside the industry — with the help of organizations like Reverb.

Founded in 2004 by environmentalist Lauren Sullivan and her husband Adam Gardner, a guitarist and vocalist of the alt-rock group Guster, Reverb has become a leading force in greening live music. The nonprofit sends staffers like Hutnik out on the road with acts from Matthews to Billie Eilish, setting up eco-villages and organizing volunteers. Reverb staffers serve as the bands’ de facto sustainability coordinators, allowing initiatives like RockNRefill to be scaled up, rather than every artist having to build something similar from scratch.

Reverb also coordinates with concert promoters and venues, which have their own sustainability teams and programs. As part of the recent renovation of Jones Beach, for example, Live Nation added a sorting facility out back where employees handpick recyclables and compostables out of the garbage. The company’s Road To Zero campaign, a partnership with Matthews, diverted 90 percent of landfill-bound waste at the majority of the band’s shows last summer.

Live music has grown immensely since the pandemic — the top 100 tours grossed roughly $10 billion last year, nearly double what they reached in 2019. (For various reasons unrelated to climate, the 2025 number will likely be lower.)

If abandoning climate projects is the new normal in our current political moment, the music business hasn’t gotten the memo. According to a recent Reverb study, 9 out of 10 concertgoers are concerned about climate change and are prepared to take action — and artists are ready to lead the way.

“As more and more artists are asking for the same things, it makes sense for these venues to make it a permanent change and not something where they just say, ‘OK, put away all the Styrofoam and all that crap, we’ll save it for the next band,’” said Gardner. “And that’s where the power really starts coming into play.”

Five days after Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Coldplay played the biggest — and almost certainly the most overtly eco-friendly — stadium show of the 21st Century. A crowd of 111,000 streamed into Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, to see the latest stop on the band’s Music of the Spheres Tour. Coldplay has grossed nearly $1.3 billion in the first three years of the tour, making it the second-most lucrative of all time behind Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

Coldplay has notched quite a few firsts on the climate front. After the group’s 2016-2017 tour, front man Chris Martin and his bandmates were so concerned about their carbon footprint that they took a break from the road until they could forge a more sustainable path. They eventually began planning the Music of the Spheres Tour with a pledge to reduce CO2 emissions by 50 percent compared to their last tour, and to hold themselves accountable with transparent reporting.

Coldplay committed to offsetting unavoidable emissions as responsibly as possible, drawing on the Oxford Principles for Net-Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting, a guide that aims to ensure the integrity of carbon credits. The group has also used a portion of its tour proceeds to support new green technologies and environmental causes. Above all, the band wanted to push the envelope industry-wide with a sustainability rider — a set of requests that artists make as a condition for performing — covering everything from venues’ power connections to free water for fans.

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Coldplay performs at a Music of the Spheres tour stop in Las Vegas in June. The tour and album name references planets and outer space.
Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Concert promoters are accustomed to accommodating all manner of demands on big acts’ riders (ranging from peppermint soap to actual kittens) and have proven open to doing the same for climate initiatives.

“Any artist could add sustainability considerations to their rider and try to influence promoters and venues to do things in a lower-impact way,” said Luke Howell, the band’s head of sustainability. “While not all artists can change how a venue operates at the macro scale, they can all ask for no single-use plastics, more veggie options on menus, or make sure the kit they are using is efficient and specced correctly to minimize energy use. And they can all engage their fans.”

To that end, while operating at a scale that few other acts can approach, Coldplay has introduced a bevy of novel green touring concepts. The band partnered with BMW to develop the first mobile show battery, which can power 100 percent of a concert with renewable energy. These clean sources include solar panels that come along for the ride, as well as power-generating bicycles and kinetic floors that quite literally draw energy from dancing fans.

Coldplay, of course, isn’t the first group to care about its impact on the planet, or try to reduce it. Environmental activism in the modern pop music world dates back more than half a century to conservation-focused songs like Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” and Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology).”

Similarly, early benefit concerts — many organized by late folk singer Tom Campbell — focused on causes like protecting forests in the Pacific Northwest. After Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne played one such show in Oregon, their crews needed a police escort out of town to stave off a convoy of chainsaw-wielding loggers.

As the science around global warming went mainstream at the turn of the millennium, artists turned their focus toward climate change. Raitt’s 2002 summer tour launched Green Highway, a traveling eco-village where fans could learn about environmental issues and check out the newest hybrid vehicles from Honda. She and her manager, Kathy Kane, convinced tour bus companies to let them power their vehicles with biodiesel, booking the tour well in advance so as to route buses efficiently instead of wasting fuel hopscotching the country.

At every venue, Raitt’s rider called for replacing disposable silverware with real cutlery, and she began bringing her own water bottle refill stations to reduce backstage plastic use. If there wasn’t a proper recycling system on-site, the crew would bring paper scraps on the bus and dispose of them properly in the next town. And Raitt inspired a new generation of artists who were concerned about live music’s environmental footprint.

“All I had to do was look at the ground when the lights came up at the end of the show to see all the plastic,” said Guster’s Gardner. “I just didn’t feel good about it.”

His wife, Lauren Sullivan, was working for the Rainforest Action Network when a venue refused to let them set up a table at a Dave Matthews show. Apparently, the nonprofit had been rallying against old growth woodcutting practices of one of the venue’s major sponsors. When Matthews threatened to skip the gig, the venue relented.

The episode inspired Sullivan to team up with her husband to channel the power of live music into climate action. Sullivan reached out to Raitt, who was on the Rainforest Action Network’s board, and learned that the touring gear from Green Highway was in storage. Raitt offered it up — and pledged to incubate Sullivan’s project via her own nonprofit, until Reverb was officially launched in 2004.

Sullivan and Gardner wanted their new nonprofit to be an organization that all acts could use to make their tours greener. In their vision, fans walking into any venue would be greeted by a Reverb volunteer wearing a band-branded T-shirt, ready to engage on environmental issues. Concertgoers would be incentivized to take action — like reducing their own carbon footprint or pushing elected officials to enact eco-friendly legislation — with chances to win goodies like ticket upgrades and signed instruments.

On the artists’ side, Reverb helped institutionalize practices that not only reduced waste, but saved dollars — like replacing single-use batteries with rechargeable battery packs for performers’ in-ear monitors. Over time, due to artist demand, these rechargeable packs became the norm.

It turned out that, when big acts demanded a certain standard of sustainability, the live music industry was willing to make meaningful changes. Adam Met, from the alt-pop band AJR, remembers realizing this while planning a tour five years ago and asking venues to eliminate single-use plastics.

“Every place we went, the venue [employees] said, ‘Oh, like Jack Johnson,’” recalled Met, who now serves on Reverb’s advisory board. “That was the artist bringing the requests to the table, and an organization like Reverb.”

As the nonprofit grew, one challenge was broadening its reach beyond alt-rock, whose artists and audiences skew heavily white, male, and middle-aged. To that end, Reverb worked increasingly with emerging artists to help them weave sustainability into their touring process from day one.

Perhaps the best example is Billie Eilish, who started teaming up with Reverb six years ago when she rose to stardom with her 2019 album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” On her 2022 Happier Than Ever Tour, Reverb helped her eliminate 117,000 single-use plastic bottles, save 8.8 million gallons of water, and push venues to offer plant-based meals — for the same prices as meat-based meals. She also introduced the pricier Changemaker Ticket, with proceeds supporting climate projects. Eilish even fueled her 2023 Lollapalooza set with solar-backed batteries.

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Billie Eilish performs onstage at Lollapalooza in 2023 in Chicago.
Michael Hickey / Getty Images for ABA

Other young artists have also joined the movement. Last year, for the first time, solar panels fueled the batteries behind festivals in the world of country music (Tyler Childers’ Healing Appalachia) and hip-hop (Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw). And concert promoters continue to step up to meet artist and fan demand. In 2022, Live Nation invested in Turn Systems, purveyor of a leading reusable cup setup; earlier this month, AEG hosted its first solar-backed battery-powered festival.

“As touring infrastructure becomes normalized where we don’t have to go out of our way to bring along our reusables and compostables, it’s just part of what’s happening at those venues,” said Gardner. “If that becomes the new normal, then there’s massive savings there, both with carbon and with dollars.”

On a bright Monday morning, I was walking through Central Park with AJR’s Met — discussing the future of green touring — when, appropriately, we happened upon the seasonal amphitheater at Rumsey Playfield. Perched on a hill overlooking Bethesda Fountain, it has hosted acts ranging from Pitbull to the Barenaked Ladies. The venue is largely constructed with repurposed shipping containers.

“So the infrastructure itself is already reused, which is great,” said Met, who then wondered aloud how this sort of space could be used during the venue’s downtime — perhaps as a seasonal solar farm. “There are all of these different ways to think about how to use the venue itself as a producer for sustainability initiatives.”

For Met, though, what’s even more powerful is the collective ability of fans to mobilize around the causes championed by their favorite artists. That’s the focus of his new book, Amplify: How to Use the Power of Connectivity to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World.

He believes that, with a little encouragement, audiences can be particularly potent around local causes. For example, during last summer’s AJR tour stop in Phoenix — where temperatures reached 109 degrees — thousands of fans signed petitions to FEMA asking the agency to designate extreme heat as a type of emergency, thereby unlocking additional funds for response. In Salt Lake City, concertgoers phone-banked around increasing the Great Salt Lake’s water levels because of the economic benefits it provides to seven different states; Met noted that each state later voted for progressive climate policies, even the ones that went for Trump.

This sort of activity might strike some as preachy, but it turns out most fans don’t mind. According to a survey of 350,000 concertgoers organized by Met’s nonprofit, Planet Reimagined, most fans encourage it. A full 70 percent of respondents said they had no problem with musicians publicly addressing climate change; 53 percent believed artists had an obligation to do so.

Perhaps the most important thing an artist can do on the climate front is spotlight the collective carbon footprint of concertgoers — a facet that has more to do with advocating for a greener society than a greener music industry. As part of its Music Decarbonization Project, Reverb recently released a concert travel study that found the average amount of CO2 emissions generated by the thousands of fans getting to a given show is 38 times larger than that of the typical act — including artist and crew travel, hotel stays, and gear transportation.

That makes sense: 80 percent of fans at the average show arrive in a personal vehicle, usually gasoline-powered. Yet the study also found that fans are hungry for greener ways to attend concerts — 33 percent would prefer to use public transit, but only 9 percent say they can and do.

Rock stars can’t make cities build more subways. But they can work with municipalities to run more routes on show nights, and keep trains and buses open later than usual. They can also team up with businesses like Rally and Uber that can offer deals on group shuttles. That’s something Raitt and her peers never had back in the day.

“I mean, what were you going to do, send postcards to people in the ’90s: ‘Let’s meet up at 8 o’clock and catch a ride to the show?’” said Raitt’s manager, Kane. “The development of technology has been able to allow fans to connect into a community, and artists to connect to their fans, in more real time.”

Music — and the special energy and sense of community that forms around a concert — has a unique power, whether that’s starting fashion trends or catalyzing social change. It shouldn’t be a stretch for acts to inspire fans to choose more sustainable options, especially if artists and venues do the work to make those options more accessible.

At its best, live music can be a launching pad for all sorts of climate-friendly ideas — from the plant-based concessions championed by Eilish to the kinetic dance floors pushed by Coldplay — making them not only available, but desirable to the broader public.

In the meantime, back at Jones Beach, as Dave Matthews winds down his set, thousands of cars sit in the parking lot beyond the grandstand, dimly illuminated by a strawberry moon rising over the ocean. While many fans will be leaving with new reusable water bottles, they’ll still have to burn dinosaur bones to get home. But the singer offers a message of hope.

“The world is a little bit crazy at the moment,” Matthews tells the crowd. “We should take care of each other a little bit more.”

One Nalgene at a time.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How musicians and concert venues are upping the tempo on climate action on Jul 25, 2025.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Zack O’Malley Greenburg.

Georgia seizes 2 media outlets’ accounts amid trial of journalist Mzia Amaglobeli

CPJ Staff — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 19:00:43 +0000

New York, July 22, 2025—Georgian authorities seized the financial accounts of independent news outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti over tax arrears, days ahead of an expected verdict in the trial of the outlets’ director, Mzia Amaglobeli, who has been jailed since January on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.

“The unwarranted seizure of Batumelebi and Netgazeti’s bank accounts confirms what has been clear from the start of Mzia Amaglobeli’s trumped-up trial – that authorities’ goal is to silence two of Georgia’s most respected news outlets and the courageous woman who runs them,” said CPJ Chief Global Affairs Officer Gypsy Guillén Kaiser. “Georgian authorities should lift all undue restrictions on media outlets’ accounts, release Amaglobeli, and end their campaign against the independent press.”

Batumelebi reported that Georgia’s Revenue Service seized the accounts of the outlets’ legal entity, Gazeti Batumelebi, on July 17, after previously giving it just five days to pay accumulated tax debts, interest, and penalties totaling around US$100,000.

CPJ and international partners monitored the July 14 trial of Amaglobeli, who was jailed over an altercation with a local police chief, and denounced the charges against her as “disproportionate and politicized.” A verdict is expected on August 1, with the prominent media manager facing between four and seven years in prison and declining health.

The measures “appear aimed at breaking [Amaglobeli] personally and, ultimately, destroying the media organization she founded,” Batumelebi said in its statement.

The outlet, which is known for its coverage of human rights issues and scrutiny of authorities, said it had been paying off the debt and pointed to the much higher arrears of pro-government media as a “telling example” of “the selectivity of this pressure.”

The Revenue Service said in a July 22 Facebook post that the seizure of Gazeti Batumelebi’s accounts was carried out “automatically” and it was ready to lift the measure and allow the company to cover its debts “in the event of a tax agreement.”

Batumelebi said the Revenue Service repeatedly declined its proposed payment plans both before and after the seizure.

In recent weeks, two independent broadcasters have reported similar account seizures over tax arrears, alleging political pressure. The moves come amid an unprecedented media crackdown and authoritarian turn by the ruling Georgian Dream party, with a series of repressive new laws on the press and extensive police violence against journalists.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Gag order imposed on retired Mexican journalist, newspaper over critical reports on governor

Jan-Albert Hootsen/CPJ Mexico Representative — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 16:13:29 +0000

Mexico City, July 18, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a gag order placed on reporter-editor Jorge Luis González Valdez and the newspaper Tribuna by a court in the southeastern Mexican state of Campeche. CPJ calls on Gov. Layda Sansores to immediately cease any judicial harassment of the journalist and the publication over coverage of her administration.

A state judge ruled Tuesday that any article published by Tribuna in which the governor is mentioned must be approved by the court.

In addition, the judge directed González, who was the editorial director of the newspaper for 30 years until his retirement in 2017, to submit to the court for review any future material in which Sensores is mentioned.

“The verdict against Jorge Luis González and Tribuna is nothing less than a gag order that constitutes a clear case of the courts siding with a state governor in overt efforts to silence any critical reporting of her administration,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico representative. “CPJ is alarmed by the sharp increase in lawfare against critical media in Mexico, where journalists continue to be attacked with almost complete impunity.”

The ruling by the Campeche state court is only the latest episode in the ongoing legal assault by Sansores on Tribuna and González, both of whom she sued on June 13, 2025, accusing them of spreading hatred and causing moral damages in coverage of her administration.

It is unclear which specific reports caused the governor to sue Tribuna, González told CPJ. It is also unclear why the lawsuit targets González, as he is no longer with the paper after his retirement in 2017.

A previous ruling ordered González to pay “moral damages” of $2 million pesos (about USD$110,000) to Sansores and prohibited both the reporter and Tribuna from mentioning the governor in any reports, according to news reports. That sentence was suspended on July 9, after González successfully filed an injunction, which CPJ has reviewed, citing the Mexican Constitution’s prohibition of censorship before publication.

González said he planned to appeal, but it wasn’t immediately clear what strategies were available to him.

Several calls by CPJ to Sansores’ office for comment were unanswered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jan-Albert Hootsen/CPJ Mexico Representative.

Gag order imposed on retired Mexican journalist, newspaper over critical reports on governor

Jan-Albert Hootsen/CPJ Mexico Representative — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 16:13:29 +0000

A state judge ruled Tuesday that any article published by Tribuna in which the governor is mentioned must be approved by the court.

González said he planned to appeal, but it wasn’t immediately clear what strategies were available to him.

Several calls by CPJ to Sansores’ office for comment were unanswered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jan-Albert Hootsen/CPJ Mexico Representative.

Gaza: Empty rhetoric from New Zealand and other Western countries

APR editor — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 06:39:57 +0000

In a joint statement, more than two dozen Western countries, including New Zealand, have called for an immediate end to the war on Gaza. But the statement is merely empty rhetoric that declines to take any concrete action against Israel, and which Israel will duly ignore.

AGAINST THE CURRENT: By Steven Cowan

The New Zealand government has joined 27 other countries calling for an “immediate end” to the war in Gaza. The joint statement says “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths”.

It goes on to say that the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.

But many of the countries that have signed this statement stand condemned for actively enabling Israel to pursue its genocidal assault on Gaza. Countries like Britain, Canada and Australia, continue to supply Israel with arms, have continued to trade with Israel, and have turned a blind eye to the atrocities and war crimes Israel continues to commit in Gaza.

It’s more than ironic that while Western countries like Britain and New Zealand are calling for an end to the war in Gaza, they continue to be hostile toward the anti-war protest movements in their own countries.

The British government recently classified the protest group Palestine Action as a “terrorist” group.

In New Zealand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Winston Peters, has denounced pro-Palestine protesters as “left wing fascists” and “communist, fascist and anti-democratic losers”. He has pushed back against the growing demands that the New Zealand government take direct action against Israel, including the cutting of all diplomatic ties.

The New Zealand government, which contains a number of Zionists within its cabinet, including Act leader David Seymour and co-leader Brooke van Velden, will be more than comfortable with a statement that proposes to do nothing.

‘Statement lacks leadership’
Its call for an end to the war is empty rhetoric, and which Israel will duly ignore — as it has ignored other calls for its genocidal war to end. As Amnesty International has said, ‘the statement lacks any resolve, leadership, or action to help end the genocide in Gaza.’

“This is cruelty – this is not a war,” says this young girl’s placard quoting the late Pope Francis in an Auckland march last Saturday . . . this featured in an earlier report. Image: Asia Pacific Report

New Zealand has declined to join The Hague Group alliance of countries that recently met in Colombia.

It announced six immediate steps it would be taking against Israel. But since The Hague Group has already been attacked by the United States, it’s never been likely that New Zealand would join it.

The National-led coalition government has surrendered New Zealand’s independent foreign policy in favour of supporting the interests of a declining American Empire.

Republished from Steven Cowan’s blog Against The Current with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

CPJ welcomes defamation decriminalization in Malawi

CPJ Staff — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 20:03:06 +0000

Lusaka, July 21, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the Malawi Constitutional Court’s landmark July 16 ruling striking down section 200 of the penal code criminalizing defamation.

“Malawi’s Constitutional Court has taken a monumental step towards protecting press freedom and affirmed that criticism and dissent are essential to democracy by ruling criminal defamation to be unconstitutional,” said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in Nairobi. “Authorities should immediately comply with the judgment, and other laws that may unduly restrict the work of journalists must also be reformed.”

In a unanimous decision, three constitutional court justices ruled that the defamation law was a “disproportionate and unjustifiable limitation on constitutional freedom,” according to a summary of the judgment reviewed by CPJ.

The ruling follows social media influencer and activist Joshua Chisa Mbele’s 2022 legal challenge of criminal defamation charges for his remarks about a military official.

In its decision, the court ordered that no further prosecutions on criminal defamation charges be brought under the law.

The Malawian chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa and other civil society organizations urged the government not to appeal the ruling and to reform other laws that restrict free expression. Section 60 of Malawi’s penal code criminalizes publishing false news, with penalties of fines or up to two years in jail, and the 2016 Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act makes unauthorized transmitting data or information punishable by a fine of 2,000,000 Malawian kwacha (USD $1,153) and a 5-year imprisonment.

In 2022, Malawi amended its Protected Flag, Emblems, and Names Act of 1967, to decriminalize insults against the president but retained prison time for those convicted of insults to flags or protected emblems.

Malawi Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda did not respond to CPJ’s calls or text messages for comment on the court’s decision.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

ICE deportation action lands Marshallese, Micronesians in Guantánamo ‘terror’ base

APR editor — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 06:31:05 +0000

By Giff Johnson, editor, Marshall Islands Journal/RNZ Pacific correspondent

United States immigration and deportation enforcement continues to ramp up, impacting on Marshallese and Micronesians in new and unprecedented ways.

The Trump administration’s directive to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and deport massive numbers of potentially illegal aliens, including those with convictions from decades past, is seeing Marshallese and Micronesians swept up by ICE.

The latest unprecedented development is Marshallese and Micronesians being removed from the United States to the offshore detention facility at the US Navy base in Guantánamo Bay — a facility set up to jail terrorists suspected of involvement in the 9/11 airplane attacks in the US in 2001.

Marshall Islands Ambassador to the US Charles Paul this week confirmed a media report that one Marshallese was currently incarcerated at Guantánamo, which is also known as “GTMO”.

The same report from nationnews.com said 72 detainees from 26 countries had been sent to GTMO last week, including from the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.

A statement issued by the US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE operations, concerning detention of foreigners with criminal records at GTMO said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was using “every tool available to get criminal illegal aliens off our streets and out of our country.”

But the action was criticised by a Marshallese advocate for citizens from the Compact countries in the US.

‘Legal, ethical concerns’
“As a Compact of Free Association (COFA) advocate and ordinary indigenous citizen of the Marshallese Islands, I strongly condemn the detention of COFA migrants — including citizens from the Republic of the Marshall Islands — at the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay,” Benson Gideon said in a social media post this week.

“This action raises urgent legal, constitutional, and ethical concerns that must be addressed without delay.”

Since seeing the news about detention of a Marshallese in this US facility used to hold suspected terrorists, Ambassador Paul said he had “been in touch with ICE to repatriate one Marshallese being detained.”

Paul said he was “awaiting all the documents pertaining to the criminal charges, but we were informed that the individual has several felony and misdemeanor convictions. We are working closely with ICE to expedite this process.”

Gideon said bluntly the detention of the Marshallese was a breach of Compact treaty obligations.

“The COFA agreement guarantees fair treatment. Military detention undermines this commitment,” he said.

Gideon listed the strong Marshallese links with the US — service in high numbers in the US military, hosting of the Kwajalein missile range, US military control of Marshall Islands ocean and air space — as examples of Marshallese contributions to the US.

‘Treated as criminals’
“Despite these sacrifices, our people are being treated as criminals and confined in a facility historically associated with terrorism suspects,” he said.

“I call on the US Embassy in Majuro to publicly address this injustice and work with federal agencies to ensure COFA Marshallese residents are treated with dignity and fairness.

“If we are good enough to host your missile ranges, fight in your military, and support your defence strategy, then we are good enough to be protected — not punished. Let justice, transparency, and respect prevail.”

There were 72 immigration detainees at Guantánamo Bay, 58 of them classified as high-risk and 14 in the low-risk category, reported nationnews.com.

The report added that the criminal records of the detainees include convictions for homicide; sexual offences, including against children; child pornography; assault with a weapon; kidnapping; drug smuggling; and robbery.

Civil rights advocates have called the detention of immigration detainees at Guantanamo Bay punitive and unlawful, arguing in an active lawsuit that federal law does not allow the government to hold those awaiting deportation outside of US territory.

In other US immigration and deportation developments:

The delivery last month by US military aircraft of 18 Marshallese deported from the US and escorted by armed ICE agents is another example of the ramped-up deportation focus of the Trump administration. Since the early 2000s more than 300 Marshall Islanders have been deported from the US. Prior to the Trump administration, past deportations were managed by US Marshals escorting deportees individually on commercial flights.
According to Marshall Islands authorities, there have not been any deportations since the June 10 military flight to Majuro, suggesting that group deportations may be the way the Trump administration handles further deportations.
Individual travellers flying into Honolulu whose passports note place of birth as Kiribati are reportedly now being refused entry. This reportedly happened to a Marshallese passport holder late last month who had previously travel
led in and out of the US without issue.

Most Marshallese passport holders enjoy visa-free travel to the US, though there are different levels of access to the US based on if citizenship was gained through naturalisation or a passport sales programme in the 1980s and 1990s.

US Ambassador to the Marshall Islands Laura Stone said, however, that “the visa-free travel rules have not changed.”

She said she could not speak to any individual traveller’s situation without adequate information to evaluate the situation.

She pointed out that citizenship “acquired through naturalisation, marriage, investment, adoption” have different rules. Stone urged all travellers to examine the rules carefully and determine their eligibility for visa-free travel.

“If they have a question, we would be happy to answer their enquiry at ConsMajuro@state.gov,” she added.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

In a historic gathering, 12 countries announce Israel sanctions and renewed legal action to end Gaza genocide

María F. Fitzgerald — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 17:21:25 +0000

This story originally appeared in Mondoweiss on July 17, 2025. It is shared here with permission.

Speaking about Palestine is speaking about resistance in the heart of horror. That is how Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, summed it up at an emergency conference in Bogotá, Colombia. The same Albanese who is currently facing sanctions imposed by the U.S. government for, according to them, making antisemitic remarks, after repeatedly denouncing the brutalities committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.

Despite these accusations, Albanese remains firm in her denunciations. She reiterated on several occasions that we must not allow these actions to distract us from what truly matters: the genocide that, for the past twenty months, has escalated against the people of Gaza, and the massive human rights violations taking place across Palestine, which have left more than 60,000 people dead, most of them women and children.

“The global majority [also known as the Global South] has been the driving force behind actions against Israel’s genocide, with South Africa and Colombia playing key roles in this process,” she told Mondoweiss during a press conference on the first day of the Emergency Conference for Gaza, convened by the governments of Colombia and South Africa. “These actions have led to the creation of spaces for sanctions and resistance. What we’ve been insisting on all along is that more and more countries must join these efforts.”

The Hague Group coordinated this Emergency Conference, which brought together representatives from over 30 states, including China, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Turkey, and Qatar. Initially formed by Colombia and South Africa, the group seeks to establish specific sanctions against Israel that, according to Colombia’s Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs, Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir, aim to move beyond discourse and into action.

Heads of state and their representatives emphasized that these sanctions are not retaliatory but are in full compliance with international humanitarian law. They are part of the international community’s commitment to ending the genocide. One of the central calls made was for more nations to join this effort and uphold their duty to defend human rights.

All 30 participating states unanimously agreed that “the era of impunity must end— and that international law must be enforced.” To begin this effort, 12 states from across the world — Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Africa — committed to implementing six key points:

1. Prevent the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel, as appropriate, to ensure that our industry does not contribute the tools to enable or facilitate genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other violations of international law.

2. Prevent the transit, docking, and servicing of vessels at any port, if applicable, within our territorial jurisdiction, while being fully compliant with applicable international law, including UNCLOS, in all cases where there is a clear risk of the vessel being used to carry arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel, to ensure that our territorial waters and ports do not serve as conduits for activities that enable or facilitate genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other violations of international law.

3. Prevent the carriage of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel on vessels bearing our flag, while being fully compliant with applicable international law, including UNCLOS, ensuring full accountability, including de-flagging, for non-compliance with this prohibition, not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

4. Commence an urgent review of all public contracts, in order to prevent public institutions and public funds, where applicable, from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory which may entrench its unlawful presence in the territory, to ensure that our nationals, and companies and entities under our jurisdiction, as well as our authorities, do not act in any way that would entail recognition or provide aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

5. Comply with our obligations to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law through robust, impartial and independent investigations and prosecutions at national or international levels, in compliance with our obligation to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes.

6. Support universal jurisdiction mandates, as and where applicable in our legal constitutional frameworks and judiciaries, to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Both Jaramillo and Zane Dangor, Director-General of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, emphasized that these actions must not be seen as reprisals, but rather as part of an international effort to break the global silence that has enabled atrocities in Palestine.

This decision is aligned with Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s renewed order to halt all coal exports from Colombia to Israel: “My government was betrayed, and that betrayal, among other things, cast doubt on my order to stop exporting coal to Israel. We are the world’s fifth-largest coal exporter, which means the country of life is helping to kill humanity. Colombian coal is still being shipped to Israel. We prohibited it, and yet we are being tricked into violating that decision. We cannot allow Colombian coal to be turned into bombs that help Israel kill children.”

In his closing speech, Petro reaffirmed that Colombia would break all arms trade relations with Israel and would continue to support the Palestinian people’s right to resist.

The legitimacy of the Hague Group and these decisions has also been backed by several multilateral organizations that have denounced the genocide. As Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, Executive Secretary of the Hague Group, stated: “The International Criminal Court (ICC) has already clearly denounced the genocide. The United Nations has stated that Gaza is the hungriest place on Earth. What we lack now is not clarity, it’s courage. We need the bravery to take the necessary actions”.

These words were echoed by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Mansour, who emphasized that, together with the Madrid Group (a coalition of over 20 European and Arab countries also taking action against Israel and led by Spain), they could be the key to breaking Israel’s siege of horror: “This will not be an exercise in theatrical politics. The time has come for concrete, effective action to stop the crimes and end the profiteering from genocide. We will defeat these crimes against humanity and give the children who are still alive in Palestine a future full of promise, independence, and dignity. Recognizing Palestine is not a symbolic gesture, it is a concrete act of resistance against colonial expansion”.

His statement was followed by that of Palestinian-American doctor Thaer Ahmad, who worked in Nasser Hospital in Gaza and left the territory two months ago. In his testimony, he said he is certain that official death tolls do not even come close to reality, that Gaza is currently hell on Earth, and that every day the genocide continues brings devastating consequences for Palestinian children: “How can we look ourselves in the mirror? When this ends, if it ends, what will we say? ‘Sorry, we did everything we could’? They can’t afford to keep waiting for vague responses. They are surviving genocide every day. So now, how do we ensure that the effort to erase Palestinians from history does not succeed?”

Although the agreed-upon actions are significant, even the attending delegations acknowledge that their efforts will not be enough. Broader and more forceful measures are required. Yet, one day earlier, standing at the podium of Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Francesca Albanese reaffirmed the historic importance of this event. She stated it could be: “A historical turning point that ends, with concrete measures, the genocide-based economy that has sustained Israel. I came to this meeting believing that the narrative is shifting. Hope must be a discipline that we all preserve.”

Correction: The original version of this article said that all 30 countries participating in the gathering had endorsed the six action points. The article has been updated to make clear that only 12 of the participating countries have committed to implementing the measures at this time.

This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by María F. Fitzgerald.

Palestine Action – terrorists or the real heroes of our time?

APR editor — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 01:53:14 +0000

COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle

Nobody has a bad word to say about the French Resistance in the Second World War, right? Who would criticise a group confronting fascism, right?

Yet this month the UK group Palestine Action has been proscribed as a “terrorist” organisation by their government for their non-violent direct action against UK-based industries supplying technology to fuel Israel’s destruction of the Palestinian people.

Are they terrorists or the very best of us in the West?

Stéphane Hessel, a leading member of the French Resistance, survived time in Nazi concentration camps, including Buchenwald. After the war he was one of the co-authors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), a pillar of international law to this day.

The Declaration affirms the inherent dignity and equal rights of all humans. In later years Hessel (d. 2013), who was Jewish, saw the treatment of the Palestinians as an affront to this and repeatedly called Israel out for crimes against humanity.

Hessel argued people needed to be outraged just as he and his fellow fighters had been during the war.

In 2010, he said: “Today, my strongest feeling of indignation is over Palestine, both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The starting point of my outrage was the appeal launched by courageous Israelis to the Diaspora: you, our older siblings, come and see where our leaders are taking this country and how they are forgetting the fundamental human values of Judaism.”

In his book Indignez-vous (Time for Outrage!) he called for a “peaceful insurrection” and pointed to some of the non-violent forms of protests Palestinians had used over the years.

In Kendal, UK, this fellow wasn’t arrested. In Cardiff, this woman was. Perhaps the “terrorism” isn’t saying you support Palestine Action – it’s saying you oppose genocide?! Image: Private Eye/X/@DefendourJuries

“The Israeli authorities have described these marches as ‘nonviolent terrorism’. Not bad . . . One would have to be Israeli to describe nonviolence as terrorism.”

How wrong Stéphane Hessel was on this point. The British Parliament has just proscribed Palestine Action as “terrorists” despite them having never attacked anyone, never used weapons, but only undertaken destruction of property linked to the arms industry.

Does Palestine Action really bear resemblance to Al Qaeda or ISIS, or Israel’s Stern Gang or the IDF? Or, like the French Resistance, will they eventually be recognised as heroes of our time? Will Hollywood romanticise them in their usual tardy way in 50 years time?

In respect to the Palestinians, Hessel was clear that resistance could take many forms: “We must recognise that when a country is occupied by infinitely superior military means, the popular reaction cannot be only nonviolent,” he said.

In his time, he lived by those words.

Resistance – a precious band of brothers and sisters
Here’s a statistic that should make you think. In the Second World War less than 2 percent of French people played any active role in the Resistance. Most people just sat back and got on with their lives whether they liked the Germans or didn’t.

The Jews and others were dealt to, stamped on and shipped out, while most of the French could trundle on unharassed. The heavy lifting of resistance was done by a small band of brothers and sisters who took it to the enemy.

History salutes them, as we now salute the Suffragettes, the anti-Apartheid activists, the American civil rights groups and Irish liberation fighters. We’re living through something similar now — and our governments are the bad guys.

I first learned that shocking fact about the composition of the Resistance from my history teacher at l’Université de Franche-Comté, in France in the 1980s. He was the distinguished historian Antoine Casanova, a specialist on Napoleon, Corsica and the Resistance.

Perhaps the low level of resistance is not surprising. Most of the people who put their bodies on the line in Occupied France during the Second World War were either communists or Jews. Good on them. Jewish people made up as much as 20 percent of the French Resistance despite numbering only about 1 percent of the population. This massive over-representation can, understandably, be explained as recognition of the existential threat they faced — but many were also passionate communists or socialists, the ideological enemies of the racist, fascist ideology of their occupiers.

Looking at the Israeli State today, many of those same Jewish Resistance fighters would instantly recognise the racism and fascism that they opposed in the 1940s. We should remember our leaders tell us we share values with Israel.

For anyone not in the United Kingdom (where it is illegal to show any support for Palestine Action) I highly recommend the recently released documentary To Kill A War Machine which gives an absolutely riveting account of both the direct action the group has undertaken and the moral and ideological underpinnings of their actions.

Having seen the documentary I can see why the British Labour government is doing everything in its power to silence and censor them. They really do expose who the true terrorists are. Stéphane Hessel would be proud of Palestine Action.

This week a former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made clear what is going on in Gaza.

The “humanitarian city” Israel is planning to build on the ruins of Rafah would be, in his words, a concentration camp. Others have described it as a Warsaw-ghetto or a “death camp”. Olmert says Israel is clearly committing war crimes in both Gaza and the West Bank and that the concentration camp for the Gazan population would mark a further escalation.

It would go beyond ethnic cleansing and take the Jewish State of Israel shoulder-to-shoulder with other regimes that built such camps. Israel, we should never forget, is our close ally.

Millions of people have hit the streets in Western countries. A majority clearly repudiate what the US and Israel are doing. But the political leadership of the big Western countries continues to enable the racist, fascist genocidal state of Israel to do its evil work. Lesser powers of the white-dominated broederbond, like Australia and New Zealand, also provide valuable support.

Until our populations in the West mobilise in sufficient numbers to force change on our increasingly criminal ruling elites, the heavy-lifting done by groups like Palestine Action will remain powerful forms of the resistance.

I grew up in the Catholic faith. One of the lines indelibly printed on my consciousness was: “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Palestine Action is doing that. Francesca Albanese is doing that. Justice for Palestine and Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa are doing this.

The real question, the burning question each of us must answer is — given there is no middle ground, there is no fence to sit on when it comes to genocide — whose side are you on? And what are you going to do about it? Vive la Resistance! Vive the defenders of the Palestinian cause!

Rest in Peace Stéphane Hessel. Le temps passe, le souvenir reste.

Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He contributes to Asia Pacific Report and Café Pacific, and hosts the public policy platform solidarity.co.nz

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Journalist Comlan Hugues Sossoukpè forcibly extradited to Benin

CPJ Staff — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 22:05:47 +0000

Dakar, July 17, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Beninese authorities to release Comlan Hugues Sossoukpè, publishing director of the banned online Beninese weekly newspaper Olofofo Info, following his arrest in Côte d’Ivoire on July 10. He was then extradited to Benin, despite his refugee status in Togo.

“The forcible transfer of journalist Comlan Hugues Sossoukpé by Côte d’Ivoire to Benin, despite his refugee status in Togo, sends a worrying message to journalists across the region,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative. “He must be released immediately and unconditionally. Such aggressive, transnational tactics illustrate a cross-border collaboration to muzzle a critical journalist.”

On July 14, 2025, a judge at Benin’s Court for the Repression of Economic Offences and Terrorism (CRIET) upheld Sossoukpè’s detention in the southern city of Ouidah, pending a judicial investigation on charges of inciting rebellion, inciting hatred and violence, harassing through electronic communication, and apology for terrorism, according to a copy of the decision seen by CPJ.

Sossoukpè was in Côte d’Ivoire to cover a government conference when he was arrested. He has been living in Togo since 2019 and has held refugee status there since receiving threats in Benin, where he is from, related to his work.

Sossoukpè told Maximin Pognon, his lawyer, who spoke to CPJ, that four people identifying themselves as Ivorian law enforcement officers and a fifth as a “colonel of the gendarmerie” asked him to respond to a summons. But Sossoukpè recognized two of them as Beninese police officers, Pognon said.

Sossoukpè said he demanded that they bring him before a judge, which they agreed to, but did not. Instead, they seized his phone and computer, took him briefly to an Ivorian law enforcement headquarters, and then escorted him aboard a plane that took him to Benin.

Two people close to the case who asked not to be named for privacy reasons said that during the days before his arrest, Sossoukpè had alerted his friends that there were kidnapping plans against him.

CPJ’s calls and WhatsApp messages to Andy Kouassi, public relations director of the Ivorian ministry of communication, and to Wilfried Léandre Houngbédji, spokesperson for the Beninese government, as well as CPJ’s email to the Ivorian gendarmerie, went unanswered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

CPJ, other groups urge Greece to create national plan to fight press attacks

CPJ Staff — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 08:30:03 +0000

On July 16, CPJ and nine other organizations wrote to the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis about reforms needed to address ongoing media freedom concerns in the country.

The letter notes the persistence of serious issues in Greece, including surveillance, threats, harassment, physical attacks, and murders of journalists. It also cites government pressure on editorial and media independence, including Greece’s public broadcaster, as well as legal threats, such as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) and criminal defamation.

The organizations asked national authorities to provide, in writing, an overview of the steps being considered to address the concerns, and to establish a national action plan.

Read the full letter here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Main Street Action Joins $50M Battleground Alliance to Flip the House

Newswire Editor — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 18:48:23 +0000

Main Street Action is bringing a powerful new voice to the 2026 elections: small business owners who are tired of watching Washington wreck their communities and walk away.

Today, Main Street Action announced its role as a grassroots partner in the Battleground Alliance, a $50 million effort to flip control of the U.S. House by organizing in more than 35 key districts. The campaign will focus on places where the GOP’s brutal budget cuts, especially to healthcare, are hitting families hard.

Main Street Action will lead organizing efforts in Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, Minnesota, and Michigan, where small business owners are stepping up as trusted messengers and community anchors.

“We’re not here to play pundit. We’re here because Americans can’t afford their meds, the employees of small businesses are losing healthcare coverage, and our communities are barely hanging on,” said Richard Trent, Executive Director of Main Street Action. “Small business owners talk to hundreds of people a week—and when they speak out, people listen. They’re perfectly positioned to ensure politicians can’t hide behind spin while working families pay the price.”

The Battleground Alliance, a coalition of more than 30 labor and grassroots organizations, is tapping directly impacted people to lead this fight—workers, caregivers, immigrants, and small business owners who’ve watched Congress put billionaires and lobbyists ahead of everyday Americans.

Main Street Action’s contribution to the coalition is clear: cutting through the noise with the kind of local credibility no TV ad can buy.

“Small business owners aren’t political insiders—they’re the folks running the coffee shop, the barber shop, the corner store,” said Shawn Phetteplace, National Campaigns Director of Main Street Action. “But we see what these policies do in real life, and we’re done staying quiet. If our Representatives vote to gut Medicaid or reward corporations while the rest of Main Street struggles, we’re gonna make sure every voter knows it.”

With this bold new partnership, Main Street Action is doubling down on what they do best: turning the voices of everyday entrepreneurs into political power. By organizing in the communities where small businesses are most vital and most vulnerable. Main Street Action is not just fighting for votes, they are fighting for a future where working families shape our democracy.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.

Kyrgyzstan tightens control over media with new false news laws

Lauren Wolfe — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 17:03:57 +0000

New York, July 15, 2025—President Sadyr Japarov signed amendments to the Kyrgyz Code of Offenses on July 8, introducing administrative penalties for spreading “false or unreliable” information via mass media or the internet — another in a series of ongoing moves toward cracking down on the country’s independent press. The law, whose signing was announced July 11, will go into effect in the third week of July.

The new regulations establish fines of 20,000 soms (US$230) for individuals, and 65,000 soms (US$740) against outlets found to have violated the law.

“The new law on so-called fake news is just one element of a broader legislative campaign under President Japarov aimed at restricting media, civil society, and public discourse in Kyrgyzstan,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Kyrgyz authorities should repeal the law and reverse their escalating legal assault on the independent press.”

The new false news legislation follows similar amendments that went into force in February. These introduced identical administrative fines for defamation and insult. In both cases, complaints are handled by the police and adjudicated in brief administrative court hearings, which journalists fear will allow authorities to swiftly fine media and avoid a thorough judicial review.

Since Japarov came to power in 2020, Kyrgyz authorities have dramatically expanded their arsenal of laws targeting the press while shuttering critical outlets and jailing journalists. A 2021 law empowers the government to extrajudicially block news websites for what it deems false news, and in 2024, Japarov enacted a Russian-style foreign agent law.

On June 25, parliament passed a controversial mass media that allows the government to determine which individuals and organizations are permitted to publish news. The law has sparked criticism from journalists and international organizations such as CPJ, which urged Japarov to veto the bill.

The president stated earlier this month that he has not yet reviewed the mass media law and will decide whether to sign or return it after careful consideration.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Lauren Wolfe.

"Purge Palantir": Day of Action Protests Firm’s Role in Gov’t Surveillance, ICE & Genocide in Gaza

Democracy Now! — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 15:49:18 +0000

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

“Purge Palantir”: Day of Action Protests Firm’s Role in Gov’t Surveillance, ICE & Genocide in Gaza

Democracy Now! — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:50:32 +0000

Protesters across the United States targeted Palantir Monday in a day of action focused on the technology company’s work with ICE, facilitating President Trump’s expanding immigration crackdown, and work with the Israeli military. New York police arrested at least four people Monday after demonstrators blocked the entrance to the company’s Manhattan offices. Democracy Now! spoke to protesters, including some who work in the technology sector, about the “Purge Palantir” campaign and how Palantir’s data mining, surveillance and automation tools are being weaponized against vulnerable communities. We speak with Wired senior writer Makena Kelly, who has been covering Palantir and says many Silicon Valley firms are “trying to find opportunity in this chaos” as the Trump administration slashes government services and pursues mass deportations.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Burying Genocide – The BBC, Gaza And The Role Of The UK

Media Lens — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:30:47 +0000

One might naively think that a national public-service broadcaster would inform the public about matters of national interest. Surely no reasonable person would deny that the public has a right to know what the government is doing in our name. But, over and above this basic requirement, a responsible public-service broadcaster should also scrutinize the government’s actions and statements, and challenge them robustly.

Instead, as Declassified UK has reported, Britain’s ‘obedient’ defence correspondents, including BBC journalists, are covering up British spy flights for Israel. The RAF has carried out more than 500 surveillance flights over Gaza since December 2023. The Ministry of Defence insists that the flights, undertaken by aircraft based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, are solely to assist in providing information about Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October 2023. But the British ‘mainstream’ media, which largely serves state-corporate interests, not the public interest, have not carried out a single investigation into the extent, impact, or legal status of these flights.

Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a London-based charity that records, investigates, and disseminates evidence of armed violence against civilians worldwide, has analysed flight-tracking data over or close to Gaza. They found that between 3 December 2023 and 27 March 2025, the RAF carried out at least 518 Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) flights in or near Gaza’s airspace.

AOAV found that the RAF conducted 24 flights in the two weeks leading up to and including the day of Israel’s deadly attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp on 8 June 2024, which reportedly killed 274 Palestinians and injured over 700. Four Israeli hostages were rescued in the operation.

Iain Overton, the Executive Director of AOAV, noted that:

‘This is not the only instance where UK ISR flights have coincided with major Israeli military assaults. In the two weeks leading up to Israel’s attack on Rafah on 12 February 2024, which killed at least 67 Palestinians, the RAF flew 15 ISR missions over Gaza. Flights continued even during the so-called “limited ceasefire” in early 2025, with six flights recorded in February alone.’

He added:

‘With no parliamentary oversight or public scrutiny, it remains unclear how much British intelligence gathered from these flights has been shared with Israel.’

This is surely a significant question that responsible journalists should be raising, particularly the national broadcaster. But, as Declassified UK has observed, the BBC has essentially remained ‘silent’ on whether these flights are contributing to the UK’s complicity in Israel’s genocide and war crimes in Gaza.

In an article jointly published by Declassified UK and The National newspaper in Scotland, Des Freedman, Professor of Media & Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, wrote:

‘thanks to dogged work by campaigners, independent journalists and pro-Palestine MPs, we know both that the flights are continuing to operate (as they did even throughout the ceasefire) and that spikes in the number of flights have coincided with especially deadly Israeli attacks on Gaza.

‘The lack of curiosity on the part of mainstream media is perhaps not surprising but it is deeply troubling.’

He added:

‘It’s hard to reconcile this silence with the energy with which mainstream media have investigated Russian spy planes flying over Ukraine and other military manoeuvres related to Putin’s invasion.’

On 7 July, we challenged Jonathan Beale, the BBC’s defence correspondent, via X, linking to Freedman’s article:

‘Hello @bealejonathan,

‘As @BBCNews defence correspondent, why are you covering up British spy flights for Israel?’

Beale was clearly irked and posted this reply:

‘Why are you claiming “cover-up” – without a shred of evidence of what’s supposed to have been covered up? I’m curious as to how a media lecturer at Goldsmiths seems to have knowledge of “intelligence” that no other journalist has seen?’

A few minutes later, having now been alerted to the Declassified UK article, he confronted Freedman:

‘Please tell us Des as to how we can get the classified intelligence only you seem to know about. Why teach media studies when you can clearly scoop us all?’

Freedman responded reasonably:

‘As you know Jonathan, I don’t have access to classified files but to open news databases. Is any of the story incorrect? Instead of a snippy response, surely it would be better to use your contacts to investigate a story that’s in the public interest?’

As Declassified UK said in a follow-up post on X:

‘In a bizarre admission he [Beale] suggests that open source information on military flights is “classified”, raising the question – how do BBC journalists investigate the British military?’

The answer, of course, is that BBC journalists, along with other state stenographers, have learned not to investigate too deeply if they are to retain their privileged position.

When Declassified UK challenged Richard Burgess, the BBC’s director of news content, he gave this response befitting a senior news apparatchik:

‘I don’t think we should overplay the UK’s contribution to what’s happening in Israel.’

Why did Burgess say, ‘in Israel’? Did he just erase Palestine? Is he actually unaware that Gaza is an occupied Palestinian territory?

As if that was not already a bizarre and misleading form of words, consider this. Nobody is asking the BBC to ‘overplay’ what the UK is doing; but simply to report it, rather than bury it to the point of invisibility. Whitewashing genocide as ‘what’s happening in Israel’ is wretched BBC newspeak.

Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader, has called for a public inquiry to determine what the UK government is hiding about its role in Israel’s genocide, including RAF flights from Cyprus. In an article for the Morning Star, he wrote:

‘We have also repeatedly asked for the truth regarding the role of British military bases in Cyprus, concerning the transfer of arms and the supply of military intelligence.

‘When the Prime Minister visited RAF Akrotiri in December 2024, he was filmed telling troops: “The whole world and everyone back at home is relying on you.” He added: “Quite a bit of what goes on here can’t necessarily be talked about all of the time. We can’t necessarily tell the world what you’re doing.” What does the government have to hide?’

Corbyn continued:

‘Over the past 18 months, our questions have been met with evasion, obstruction and silence, leaving the public in the dark over the ways in which the responsibilities of government have been discharged. Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of democracy. The British public deserves to know the full scale of Britain’s complicity in crimes against humanity.’

And the British public-service broadcaster, along with the UK’s other major news outlets, should have been reporting this since October 2023. As Mark Curtis, co-director of Declassified UK, commented:

‘Britain’s national media are doing a wonderful job covering up the extent of British support for Israel during a genocide. It’s their most impressive performance since destroying the prospects of a decent government under Jeremy Corbyn in 2015-19.’

A Devastating Indictment Of BBC ‘Impartiality’

The BBC’s Richard Burgess, quoted above, was speaking in parliament at the launch of a study by the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM) into the BBC’s coverage of Israel and Gaza. The report examined BBC content from 7 October 2023 to 7 October 2024. A total of 3,873 BBC articles and 32,092 segments broadcast on BBC television and radio were analysed.

CfMM’s key findings were:

Palestinian deaths treated as less newsworthy: Despite Gaza suffering 34 times more casualties than Israel, BBC gave Israeli deaths 33 times more coverage per fatality and ran almost equal numbers of humanizing victim profiles (279 Palestinians vs 201 Israelis).
Systematic language bias favouring Israelis: BBC used emotive terms four times more for Israeli victims, applied ‘massacre’ 18 times more to Israeli casualties, and used ‘murder’ 220 times for Israelis versus once for Palestinians.
Suppression of genocide allegations: BBC presenters shut down genocide claims in over 100 documented instances whilst making zero mention of Israeli leaders’ genocidal statements, including Netanyahu’s biblical Amalek reference (see below).
Muffling Palestinian voices: The BBC interviewed significantly fewer Palestinians than Israelis (1,085 v 2,350) on television and radio, while BBC presenters shared the Israeli perspective 11 times more frequently than the Palestinian perspective (2,340 v 217).

These findings show that the BBC values the lives of Israelis much more than the lives of Palestinians. This is part of a bigger picture of BBC News coverage conforming to the Israeli narrative, a key feature of BBC journalism going back decades. The CfMM report is a devastating indictment of the BBC’s endlessly repeated, robotic claim of ‘impartiality’.

At the parliamentary launch of the CfMM report, Burgess was also challenged by Peter Oborne, the former chief political commentator of the Daily Telegraph. The exchange was filmed by someone at the meeting. Oborne robustly confronted Burgess with as many as six ways in which BBC News has misled its audiences. Independent journalist Jonathan Cook helpfully detailed these six points, while providing crucial context, which can be summarised as follows:

1. The BBC has never mentioned the Hannibal directive, implemented by Israel on 7 October 2023, that permitted the Israeli killing of Israeli civilians, often by Apache helicopter fire, to prevent them from being taken captive by Hamas. See our media alert about this from February 2025.

2. The BBC has never mentioned Israel’s Dahiya doctrine, which underlies Israel’s murderous ‘mowing the lawn’ Gaza strategy over the past two decades: repeated devastating assaults on the Palestinians in Gaza to weaken their resistance to the brutal and illegal Israeli occupation, and to make it easier to ethnically cleanse them.

3. The BBC has not reported the many dozens of genocidal statements from Israeli officials since 7 October. In particular, the BBC buried Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s biblically-inspired comparison of the Palestinians to ‘Amalek’ – a people the Jews were instructed by God to wipe from the face of the earth.

4. By contrast, as reported in the CfMM study, on more than 100 occasions when guests have tried to refer to what is happening in Gaza as genocide, BBC staff have immediately shut them down on air.

5. The BBC has largely ignored Israel’s campaign of murdering Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

6. Finally, Oborne observed that the distinguished Israeli historian Avi Shlaim, who lives in the UK and teaches at Oxford University, has never been invited to appear on the BBC.

Cook noted:

‘Unlike the Israeli spokespeople familiar to BBC audiences, who are paid to muddy the waters and deny Israel’s genocide, Shlaim is both knowledgeable about the history of Israeli colonisation of Palestine and truly independent. […] His research has led him to a series of highly critical conclusions about Israel’s historical and current treatment of the Palestinians. He calls what Israel is doing in Gaza a genocide.’

Cook added:

‘He is one of the prominent Israelis we are never allowed to hear from, because they are likely to make more credible and mainstream a narrative the BBC wishes to present as fringe, loopy and antisemitic. Again, what the BBC is doing – paid for by British taxpayers – isn’t journalism. It is propaganda for a foreign state.’

The BBC Is Being led by A ‘PR Person’

When the BBC dropped the powerful documentary, ‘Gaza: Doctors Under Attack’, it compounded its complicity in Israel’s genocide. The Corporation’s earlier withdrawal of ‘Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone’, had already epitomised how much the UK’s national broadcaster is beholden to the Israel lobby (see our media alert here).

‘Gaza: Doctors Under Attack’ details how Israel has systematically targeted hospitals, health care centres, medics themselves, and even their families. Doctors told the filmmakers of how they had been detained, beaten, and tortured by the Israelis, as confirmed by an anonymous Israeli whistleblower. The nonsensical reason given by the BBC for cancelling the film, which it had itself commissioned from Basement Films, was the risk that broadcasting it would create ‘a perception of partiality’. Reporting the truth about Israel’s crimes would be ‘partial’? Such inversion of reality has become standard for the national broadcaster.

The film was instead shown by Channel 4 on 2 July. After watching it, Gary Lineker, who had essentially been pushed out of the BBC for his honesty on Gaza and other issues, said that, ‘The BBC should hang its head in shame.’

Yanis Varoufakis, the economist and former Greek finance minister, said:

‘I can’t see how the BBC will ever recover from its headlong leap into this ethical void, all in the name of not upsetting the perpetrators of the most horrific genocide since the end of the 2nd World War.’

Ben de Pear, the documentary’s executive producer for Basement Films and a former Channel 4 News editor, accused the BBC of trying to gag him and others over its decision not to show the documentary. In a statement that he posted to LinkedIn, de Pear said the film had passed through many ‘BBC compliance hoops’ and that the BBC were now attempting to stop him talking about the film’s ‘painful journey’ to the screen:

‘I rejected and refused to sign the double gagging clause the BBC bosses tried multiple times to get me to sign. Not only could we have been sued for saying the BBC refused to air the film (palpably and provably true) but also if any other company had said it, the BBC could sue us.

‘Not only could we not tell the truth that was already stated, but neither could others. Reader, I didn’t sign it.’

At a conference in Sheffield, de Pear criticised Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, over the BBC’s decision to drop the film:

‘All the decisions about our film were not taken by journalists, they were taken by Tim Davie. He is just a PR person. Tim Davie is taking editorial decisions which, frankly, he is not capable of making.’

De Pear added:

‘The BBC’s primary purpose is TV news and current affairs, and if it’s failing on that it doesn’t matter what drama it makes or sports it covers. It is failing as an institution. And if it’s failing on that then it needs new management.’

Of course, as Media Lens has long argued and demonstrated with copious examples since our inception in 2001, the BBC isn’t ‘failing’. It is doing precisely what it was set up to do: namely, act as a mouthpiece for establishment power and as an enabler of state crimes.

The post Burying Genocide – The BBC, Gaza And The Role Of The UK first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Media Lens.

Burying Genocide – The BBC, Gaza And The Role Of The UK

Media Lens — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:30:47 +0000

Iain Overton, the Executive Director of AOAV, noted that:

‘This is not the only instance where UK ISR flights have coincided with major Israeli military assaults. In the two weeks leading up to Israel’s attack on Rafah on 12 February 2024, which killed at least 67 Palestinians, the RAF flew 15 ISR missions over Gaza. Flights continued even during the so-called “limited ceasefire” in early 2025, with six flights recorded in February alone.’

He added:

‘With no parliamentary oversight or public scrutiny, it remains unclear how much British intelligence gathered from these flights has been shared with Israel.’

In an article jointly published by Declassified UK and The National newspaper in Scotland, Des Freedman, Professor of Media & Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, wrote:

‘thanks to dogged work by campaigners, independent journalists and pro-Palestine MPs, we know both that the flights are continuing to operate (as they did even throughout the ceasefire) and that spikes in the number of flights have coincided with especially deadly Israeli attacks on Gaza.

‘The lack of curiosity on the part of mainstream media is perhaps not surprising but it is deeply troubling.’

He added:

‘It’s hard to reconcile this silence with the energy with which mainstream media have investigated Russian spy planes flying over Ukraine and other military manoeuvres related to Putin’s invasion.’

On 7 July, we challenged Jonathan Beale, the BBC’s defence correspondent, via X, linking to Freedman’s article:

‘Hello @bealejonathan,

‘As @BBCNews defence correspondent, why are you covering up British spy flights for Israel?’

Beale was clearly irked and posted this reply:

‘Why are you claiming “cover-up” – without a shred of evidence of what’s supposed to have been covered up? I’m curious as to how a media lecturer at Goldsmiths seems to have knowledge of “intelligence” that no other journalist has seen?’

A few minutes later, having now been alerted to the Declassified UK article, he confronted Freedman:

‘Please tell us Des as to how we can get the classified intelligence only you seem to know about. Why teach media studies when you can clearly scoop us all?’

Freedman responded reasonably:

‘As you know Jonathan, I don’t have access to classified files but to open news databases. Is any of the story incorrect? Instead of a snippy response, surely it would be better to use your contacts to investigate a story that’s in the public interest?’

As Declassified UK said in a follow-up post on X:

‘In a bizarre admission he [Beale] suggests that open source information on military flights is “classified”, raising the question – how do BBC journalists investigate the British military?’

The answer, of course, is that BBC journalists, along with other state stenographers, have learned not to investigate too deeply if they are to retain their privileged position.

When Declassified UK challenged Richard Burgess, the BBC’s director of news content, he gave this response befitting a senior news apparatchik:

‘I don’t think we should overplay the UK’s contribution to what’s happening in Israel.’

Why did Burgess say, ‘in Israel’? Did he just erase Palestine? Is he actually unaware that Gaza is an occupied Palestinian territory?

‘We have also repeatedly asked for the truth regarding the role of British military bases in Cyprus, concerning the transfer of arms and the supply of military intelligence.

‘When the Prime Minister visited RAF Akrotiri in December 2024, he was filmed telling troops: “The whole world and everyone back at home is relying on you.” He added: “Quite a bit of what goes on here can’t necessarily be talked about all of the time. We can’t necessarily tell the world what you’re doing.” What does the government have to hide?’

Corbyn continued:

‘Over the past 18 months, our questions have been met with evasion, obstruction and silence, leaving the public in the dark over the ways in which the responsibilities of government have been discharged. Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of democracy. The British public deserves to know the full scale of Britain’s complicity in crimes against humanity.’

‘Britain’s national media are doing a wonderful job covering up the extent of British support for Israel during a genocide. It’s their most impressive performance since destroying the prospects of a decent government under Jeremy Corbyn in 2015-19.’

A Devastating Indictment Of BBC ‘Impartiality’

CfMM’s key findings were:

Palestinian deaths treated as less newsworthy: Despite Gaza suffering 34 times more casualties than Israel, BBC gave Israeli deaths 33 times more coverage per fatality and ran almost equal numbers of humanizing victim profiles (279 Palestinians vs 201 Israelis).
Systematic language bias favouring Israelis: BBC used emotive terms four times more for Israeli victims, applied ‘massacre’ 18 times more to Israeli casualties, and used ‘murder’ 220 times for Israelis versus once for Palestinians.
Suppression of genocide allegations: BBC presenters shut down genocide claims in over 100 documented instances whilst making zero mention of Israeli leaders’ genocidal statements, including Netanyahu’s biblical Amalek reference (see below).
Muffling Palestinian voices: The BBC interviewed significantly fewer Palestinians than Israelis (1,085 v 2,350) on television and radio, while BBC presenters shared the Israeli perspective 11 times more frequently than the Palestinian perspective (2,340 v 217).

4. By contrast, as reported in the CfMM study, on more than 100 occasions when guests have tried to refer to what is happening in Gaza as genocide, BBC staff have immediately shut them down on air.

5. The BBC has largely ignored Israel’s campaign of murdering Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

6. Finally, Oborne observed that the distinguished Israeli historian Avi Shlaim, who lives in the UK and teaches at Oxford University, has never been invited to appear on the BBC.

Cook noted:

‘Unlike the Israeli spokespeople familiar to BBC audiences, who are paid to muddy the waters and deny Israel’s genocide, Shlaim is both knowledgeable about the history of Israeli colonisation of Palestine and truly independent. […] His research has led him to a series of highly critical conclusions about Israel’s historical and current treatment of the Palestinians. He calls what Israel is doing in Gaza a genocide.’

Cook added:

‘He is one of the prominent Israelis we are never allowed to hear from, because they are likely to make more credible and mainstream a narrative the BBC wishes to present as fringe, loopy and antisemitic. Again, what the BBC is doing – paid for by British taxpayers – isn’t journalism. It is propaganda for a foreign state.’

The BBC Is Being led by A ‘PR Person’

Yanis Varoufakis, the economist and former Greek finance minister, said:

‘I can’t see how the BBC will ever recover from its headlong leap into this ethical void, all in the name of not upsetting the perpetrators of the most horrific genocide since the end of the 2nd World War.’

‘I rejected and refused to sign the double gagging clause the BBC bosses tried multiple times to get me to sign. Not only could we have been sued for saying the BBC refused to air the film (palpably and provably true) but also if any other company had said it, the BBC could sue us.

‘Not only could we not tell the truth that was already stated, but neither could others. Reader, I didn’t sign it.’

At a conference in Sheffield, de Pear criticised Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, over the BBC’s decision to drop the film:

‘All the decisions about our film were not taken by journalists, they were taken by Tim Davie. He is just a PR person. Tim Davie is taking editorial decisions which, frankly, he is not capable of making.’

De Pear added:

‘The BBC’s primary purpose is TV news and current affairs, and if it’s failing on that it doesn’t matter what drama it makes or sports it covers. It is failing as an institution. And if it’s failing on that then it needs new management.’

The post Burying Genocide – The BBC, Gaza And The Role Of The UK first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Media Lens.

Senegalese commentator arrested, prime minister calls for media boycott

Committee to Protect Journalists — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 20:35:21 +0000

Dakar, July 14, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Senegalese authorities to release news commentator Badara Gadiaga, to cease arresting journalists, and to refrain from retaliating against the media for coverage critical of the government.

Senegal’s special cybersecurity division (DSC) arrested Gadiaga over his remarks during a July 4, 2025, broadcast about Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko. On July 14, 2025, a judge opened a judicial investigation and charged Gadiaga with spreading false news, immoral speech, insulting a person exercising the prerogatives of the head of state, and receiving or soliciting donations in order to engage in propaganda likely to disturb public order, his lawyer, El Hadji Omar Youm, told news outlets.

During the broadcast on private television channel Télé Futurs Médias (TFM), Gadiaga responded to criticism from a ruling party official by saying that the party should not give lessons in ethics because its leader, Sonko, had been “convicted of sexual abuse.” Sonko was sentenced in absentia in June 2023 to two years in prison for the “corruption of youth.”

In April, Sonko said his opponents were using journalists and “so-called news commentators” to spread false news and defame authorities.

“These charges represent an escalation in the government’s punitive attitude toward the media and promote a dangerous conflation between the press and the political opposition,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative. “Senegalese authorities must release news commentators Badara Gadiaga, Abdou Nguer, and Bachir Fofana, and refrain from reprisals against the media for their criticism. Alleged press offenses should not be criminalized.”

On July 10, Sonko alluded to the TV debate during a meeting with his party’s leadership and recommended that party members “stop going to television stations that fight [the party]. …I fight those who fight me, and let those who use their tools to fight me know that I will go to the end.” He also called for a boycott of “television stations that fight him.”

L’Observateur, a newspaper owned by the same parent company as TFM, Groupe Futurs Médias, responded to Sonko’s comments with an editorial saying: “We are not a media affiliate of a party, nor a propaganda battalion, nor an instrument of validation. We are a newsroom.”

Separately, deliberation of the trial of commentator Bachir Fofana, detained for allegedly spreading false news, has been postponed to July 16, and another commentator, Abdou Nguer, has remained in prison since April on various charges.

CPJ’s calls to Sonko’s office and the justice ministry went unanswered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Press freedom groups condemn hearing, demand release of Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli

CPJ Staff — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 17:55:36 +0000

Batumi, Georgia. July 14, 2025一Monday’s court hearing in the case of Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli shows the disproportionate and politicized nature of the charges against her and she must be released immediately, said three international press freedom organizations whose representatives monitored the proceedings.

In response to the hearing, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), International Press Institute (IPI), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) – called on Monday for Amaglobeli’s immediate release. Ambassadors and diplomats from the European Union mission and seven countries also attended the hearing, in which Amaglobeli provided detailed testimony for nearly three hours.

A prominent journalist and founder of the online news outlets Gazeti Batumelebi and Netgazeti, Amaglobeli has been unjustly held in pretrial detention since her arrest on January 12.

Press freedom groups and diplomats gather in Batumi, Georgia, to attend a hearing for jailed journalist Mzia Amaglobeli on July 14, 2025. (Photo: Irakli Kurua for CPJ, IPI, and RSF)

“Today’s proceedings show that the trial of Mzia Amaglobeli is shrouded in a shocking smear campaign to destroy her credibility, personally and as a journalist. This, along with her deteriorating health, is deeply troubling and must end. Amaglobeli’s powerful testimony reflects her deep commitment to Georgia and to a free and independent media. Journalism is not a crime.”

— Gypsy Guillén Kaiser, Chief Global Affairs Officer, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“The proceedings we witnessed today only confirm our position that this charge against Mzia Amaglobeli is entirely disproportionate and must be dropped. We are also deeply concerned by what appears to be an effort to smear her and to call into question her credibility as a journalist. Mzia is a highly respected, veteran journalist known for her commitment to journalistic ethics and independence. We fully stand by her as an IPI member.”

— Amy Brouillette, Director of Advocacy, International Press Institute (IPI).

“This hearing once again underlined the lack of foundation in this case. The defense pointed to serious procedural irregularities, including politically charged that should have no place in an ongoing trial. Video footage also called into question the credibility of the alleged victim. Mzia Amaglobeli gave a calm and determined testimony, recalling her arrest and reaffirming her commitment to independent journalism — values for which she is now being prosecuted.”

— Jeanne Cavelier, Head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk

Amaglobeli has been charged under the criminal code with attacking a police officer – a charge widely viewed as excessive and politically motivated – which carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison. She has been held in pre-trial detention since January 12, during which time her health has declined and she has been struggling with deteriorating vision.

She is being held at the Rustavi Women’s Prison No. 5, south of the capital Tbilisi. CPJ, IPI, and RSF visited the prison site and stood outside in a gesture of solidarity on July 13. The court’s verdict on this case could be announced at a subsequent hearing, set for July 28.

Amaglobeli is the first woman journalist to be jailed since the country gained its independence in 1991. A widely respected figure known for upholding the highest journalistic standards, her arrest and detention are seen by many in the journalism community in Georgia as a deliberate attempt to intimidate and silence the independent press amidst a broader crackdown on civil society and dissent. Last week, 17 European foreign ministers and the European Union’s High Representative, expressed deep concern regarding “increasing repression” in Georgia.

The outlets founded by Amaglobeli nearly 25 years ago, have reported on human rights violations and corruption, serving the public with impartial, trustworthy news. These outlets have endured four political regimes in Georgia’s post-independence era, despite their journalists and editors being attacked, threatened, blackmailed and detained by authorities.

Amaglobeli’s detention this January comes amid growing harassment of independent media in Georgia and a broader scaling back of democratic freedoms under the Georgian Dream ruling party. Over the past year, journalists in Georgia have been beaten, harassed, detained, jailed, smeared, and fined. Impunity for attacks on journalists, including those perpetrated by police, remains widespread. A wave of repressive legislation – such as the foreign agents law as well as amendments to the Law on Grants and the Law of Broadcasting – deliberately aims to prevent independent media from operating in Georgia.

As members of the Media Freedom Coalition’s Consultative Network, CPJ, IPI and RSF have urged robust action regarding Amaglobeli’s detention, along with broader concerns about escalating attacks on press freedom that can weaken democracy in Georgia.

Read more: CPJ’s remarks during a site visit to Rustavi Women’s Prison on July 13, 2025

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Press freedom groups condemn hearing, demand release of Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli

CPJ Staff — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 17:55:36 +0000

A prominent journalist and founder of the online news outlets Gazeti Batumelebi and Netgazeti, Amaglobeli has been unjustly held in pretrial detention since her arrest on January 12.

Press freedom groups and diplomats gather in Batumi, Georgia, to attend a hearing for jailed journalist Mzia Amaglobeli on July 14, 2025. (Photo: Irakli Kurua for CPJ, IPI, and RSF)

— Gypsy Guillén Kaiser, Chief Global Affairs Officer, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

— Amy Brouillette, Director of Advocacy, International Press Institute (IPI).

— Jeanne Cavelier, Head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk

Read more: CPJ’s remarks during a site visit to Rustavi Women’s Prison on July 13, 2025

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Summer Reading to Spark Civic Action

matthew — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 19:29:01 +0000

By Ralph Nader July 11, 2025 Readers think, and thinkers read. Here are some selections for your summer reading list. A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine by Chris Hedges (Seven Stories, 2025). With brilliant narratives, both historical and contemporary—Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges provides the framework that explains how the…

This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader and was authored by matthew.

Kyrgyzstan shutters critical broadcaster Aprel TV for undermining gov’t authority

CPJ Staff — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 13:52:48 +0000

New York, July 11, 2025—A Kyrgyzstan court issued an order Wednesday shuttering independent broadcaster Aprel TV and terminating its broadcasting and social media operations, claiming the outlet undermined the government’s authority and negatively influenced individuals and society.

The ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed against the outlet by Kyrgyz prosecutors in April, which alleged “negative” and “destructive” coverage of the government.

“The Kyrgyz authorities must allow Aprel TV to continue its work unhindered and should not contest any appeal of the court’s Wednesday order to shutter the independent broadcaster and terminate its broadcasting and social media operations,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Kyrgyzstan’s international partners – particularly the European Union, whose parliament and member states are in the process of ratifying a new partnership agreement – must hold Kyrgyzstan to account for its spiraling press freedom abuses.”

The judge accepted prosecutors’ arguments that the outlet’s reporting, which often included commentary and reports critical of the government, could “provoke calls for mass unrest with the aim of a subsequent seizure of power,” according to CPJ’s review of the verdict.

Aprel TV’s editor-in-chief Dmitriy Lozhnikov told privately owned news website 24.kg that criticizing the government isn’t a crime, but one of the core functions of the press. CPJ was unable to immediately confirm whether the outlet would appeal.

Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (SCNS) summoned 10 current and former Aprel TV staff for questioning on July 1 in connection with a separate, undisclosed criminal investigation.

The journalists’ lawyer told Radio Azattyk, the local service of U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), that investigators’ questions appeared to indicate that authorities will open a case on allegations of incitement of mass unrest or acts against the constitutional order.

CPJ’s email to the SCNS for comment on the criminal investigation did not immediately receive a reply.

Aprel TV is highly critical of the government, often adopting an irreverent tone as it broadcasts via oppositional broadcaster Next TV and reports to its 700,000 followers on several social media accounts.

Following President Sadyr Japarov’s ascent to power in 2020, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented assault on the country’s previously vibrant media, shuttering leading outlets and jailing journalists on the grounds that their critical reporting could lead to social unrest.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Israel uses Iran war to escalate assaults on press

Mohamed Mandour — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 18:37:12 +0000

Nazareth, Israel, July 9, 2025—Israel’s 12-day war with Iran provided Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government with an opportunity to step up its assault on the press — a trend that has since continued apace.

“Media freedom is often a casualty of war, and Israel’s recent war with Iran is no exception. We have seen Israeli authorities use security fears to increase censorship, while extremist right-wing politicians have demonized the media, legitimizing attacks on journalists,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Despite hopes that we will see a ceasefire in Gaza this week, Israel’s government appears relentless in its determination to silence those who report critically on its military actions.”

After Haaretz newspaper published an interview with Israeli soldiers who said they were ordered to shoot at unarmed Gazans waiting for food aid, a mayor in southern Israel threatened to shut shops selling the popular liberal paper. This follows the government’s decision last year to stop advertising with Haaretz, accusing it of “incitement.”

Authorities are also pushing ahead with a bill to dismantle the public broadcaster, Kan, and shutter its news division, the country’s third-largest news channel. Meanwhile, government support has seen the right-wing Channel 14 grow in popularity.

Aluf Benn, editor-in-chief of Haaretz. (Photo: Courtesy of Benn)

The hostile climate fueled by Israel’s right-wing government has emboldened settler violence against journalists. On July 5, two Deutsche Welle (DW) reporters wearing press vests were attacked by Israeli settlers in Sinjil, West Bank — an incident condemned by Germany’s ambassador and the German Journalists’ Association, which called it “unacceptable that radical settlers are hunting down media professionals with impunity.” Reporters from AFP, The New York Times, and The Washington Post were also present. Palestinian journalists had to flee.

“War is a dangerous time for civil rights – rights that Netanyahu’s government is actively undermining as it moves toward dismantling democracy,” Haaretz Editor-in-Chief Aluf Benn told CPJ.

‘Broadcasts that serve the enemy’

During the Israel-Iran war of June 13 to 24, anti-press government actions included:

A June 18 military order requiring army approval before broadcasting the aftermath of Iranian attacks on Israeli military sites. Haaretz reported that this order was illegal as it was not made public in the official government gazette or authorized by a parliamentary committee.

On June 19, security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Israelis who see people watching “Al Jazeera broadcasts or reporters” to report their sightings to authorities. Israel shut down the Qatari-based outlet in May 2024, and six of its journalists have been killed while reporting on Israel’s war in Gaza. Many Arabs in Israel still watch Al Jazeera broadcasts, and former Israeli officials have appeared on the network since the shutdown.

“These are broadcasts that serve the enemy,” Ben-Gvir said.

On June 20, Ben-Gvir and communications minister Shlomo Karhi issued a directive that broadcasting from impact sites without written permission would be a criminal offense.

When Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara demanded that the ministers explain the legal basis for their announcement, the ministers said she was “trying to thwart” their efforts to ensure that foreign media “don’t help the enemy target us.”

On June 23, Haaretz reported that the police’s legal adviser issued an order giving officers sweeping powers to censor journalists reporting from the impact sites.

“This directive, which primarily targets foreign media and joins a wave of police and ministerial efforts to obstruct news coverage, is unlawful and infringes on basic rights,” Tal Hassin, an attorney with Israel’s biggest human rights group, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), told CPJ.

ACRI petitioned the Attorney General, arguing that the police adviser did not have the legal authority to issue such an order. It has not received a response.

Journalists censored, detained, and abused

CPJ subsequently documented at least four incidents involving journalists who were abused and blocked from reporting.

On June 20, police stopped a live broadcast from Tel Aviv by Turkish state-owned broadcaster TRT’s correspondent Mücahit Aydemir, although he told the officers he had the required permits, including authorization from the military censor. For several days afterwards, Aydemir received “unsettling phone calls” from unknown Hebrew-speakers, he told CPJ.

Civilian volunteer squad leader and rapper Yoav Eliasi (foreground, left), known as “The Shadow,” and other squad members select photographers at the scene of an Iranian missile attack in Tel Aviv on June 22, 2025. (Photo: Oren Ziv)

On June 21, privately owned Channel 13’s journalist Ali Mughrabi and a camera operator, who declined to be named, citing fear of reprisals, were expelled from a drone crash site in Beit She’an, northern Israel, despite showing their press accreditation. During a live broadcast, Deputy Mayor Oshrat Barel questioned their credentials, shoved the cameraperson, and ordered them to leave. She later apologized.

“What we’re experiencing isn’t just about the media — it’s about citizenship,” Mughrab, an Israeli citizen of Palestinian origin, told CPJ.

On June 22, a civilian police volunteer squad, led by far-right activist and rapper Yoav Eliasi, known as “The Shadow,” detained three Jerusalem-based, Arab Israeli journalists and one international journalist, after separating them from their non-Arab colleagues outside a building in Tel Aviv that had been damaged by an Iranian strike.

Mustafa Kharouf and Amir Abed Rabbo from the Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency, Ahmad Gharabli, with Agence France-Presse news agency, and another journalist who declined to be named, citing fear of reprisal, were held for three hours.

Kharouf told CPJ, the unit asked them who was “Israeli” and allowed the non-Arab journalists to leave.

“One officer accused us of working for Al Jazeera, even though we showed official press credentials,” said Kharouf.

“When I showed my ID, they told me I wasn’t allowed to film because I’m not Israeli – even though they treat us like Israelis when it comes to taxes,” Gharabli told CPJ.

Armed volunteer squads have rapidly grown from four before the October 2023 Hamas attack to around 900 new units, an expansion that “had negative effects on Arab-Jewish relations,” Dr. Ark Rudnitzky of Tel Aviv University told CPJ in an email. Squad members “tend to suspect an Arab solely because they are Arab,” he said.

“It was clear they targeted the journalists because they were Arab,” said Israeli journalist and witness Oren Ziv, who wrote about the incident.

The Central District Police told CPJ via email that the journalists were “evacuated from the building for security reasons related to their safety and were directed to alternative reporting locations.”

On June 24, Channel 13 correspondent Paz Robinson and a camera operator who declined to be named were reporting on a missile strike in southern Israel’s Be’er Sheva when a woman shouted that he was a “Nazi” and “Al Jazeera” and blocked him from filming, screaming, “You came to celebrate over dead bodies.”

“After I saw the woman wasn’t backing down, I decided to leave. I’m not here to fight with my own people. I’m not a politician. I came to cover events,” Robinson told CPJ.

Earlier in the war with Iran, CPJ documented eight incidents in which 14 journalists faced harassment, obstruction, equipment confiscation, incitement, or forced removal by the police.

The Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit told CPJ via email that police “made significant efforts to facilitate safe, meaningful access for journalists” during the war with Iran. “While isolated misunderstandings may occur…case was addressed promptly and professionally.”

CPJ’s emails to the Attorney General, Israel Defense Forces’ North America Media Desk, Ben-Gvir, and Shlomo requesting comment did not receive any replies.

Kholod Massalha is a CPJ consultant on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and a researcher with years of experience in press freedom and freedom of expression issues.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Mohamed Mandour.

ICE defies court, says journalist Mario Guevara ‘not releasable’

CPJ Staff — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 21:16:31 +0000

Washington, D.C., July 7, 2025— The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities to respect an immigration court ruling and release on bail journalist Mario Guevara, a native of El Salvador who has been legally in the U.S. for the past 20 years.

On Monday, ICE denied Guevara’s bail and listed him as “Not Releasable,” though a judge on July 1 ruled that Guevara could be released on a $7,500 bond, according to a copy of the denial reviewed by CPJ.

At around 4:30 p.m. local time on Monday, Floyd County jail officials told CPJ that Guevara had been taken by ICE from the Floyd County Jail in Rome, Georgia, though they said they did not know where he was being taken.

Timeline:

Atlanta-based journalist Mario Guevara’s weeks behind bars

Telemundo Atlanta reported on Monday morning that the activist group Indivisible had scheduled a protest for 6 p.m. that day at the jail.

“We are dismayed that immigration officials have decided to ignore a federal immigration court order last week granting bail to journalist Mario Guevara,” said CPJ U.S., Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “Guevara is currently the only jailed journalist in the United States who was arrested in relation to his work. Immigration authorities must respect the law and release him on bail instead of bouncing him from one jurisdiction to another.”

The journalist, who was initially arrested while covering a June 14 “No Kings” protest in the Atlanta metro area and charged with three misdemeanors, which local officials declined to prosecute due to insufficient evidence. A local judge ordered Guevara to be released on bond, but he remained in custody after ICE opened a detainer against him.

The Department of Homeland Security headquarters and the department’s Atlanta field office did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

BRAND TRUMP’S NAME ON HIS BIG SAVAGE WRECKING OF AMERICA BILL

matthew — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 23:45:49 +0000

By Ralph Nader July 3, 2025 The narrow passage of Trump/GOP 1100-page bill that spells death, destruction, and deprivation to the American people—including MAGA voters and innocents abroad should destroy the Trumpster Republicans in the 2026 Congressional election. However, by then it will be too late for poor American children facing Trump reducing the food…

This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader and was authored by matthew.

Zimbabwe authorities arrest newspaper editor on charges of insulting the president

Lauren Wolfe — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:42:39 +0000

New York July 2, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Zimbabwean authorities to release newspaper editor Faith Zaba, who was arrested on July 1. She is facing charges of “undermining or insulting the authority of the president” in connection with a satirical column.

“This case sends the message that Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his administration are so fragile that they are easily threatened by a critical column,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. “It’s also a reminder of this government’s willingness to waste public resources by throwing journalists behind bars. Authorities in Zimbabwe must release Faith Zaba unconditionally and without delay.”

Police summoned Zaba to appear at the central police station in the capital, Harare, on July 1, where they charged her over the June 27 satirical column about Mnangagwa’s government published in her newspaper, the business weekly Zimbabwe Independent, according to her lawyer, Chris Mhike. Mhike told CPJ that Zaba has been unwell and was “severely ill” at the time of her arrest.

On July 2, Zaba appeared at the magistrate’s court in Harare, where her bail hearing was deferred to July 3 after the state requested more time to verify her medical history, according to multiple local news reports.

The “Muckracker” column linked to Zaba’s arrest said that Zimbabwe was a “mafia state,” citing the administration’s alleged interference in the politics of neighboring countries, and said that the current government was “obsessed with keeping itself in power.” Under Zimbabwe’s Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Zaba could face a $300 fine or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, if convicted.

CPJ has documented an ongoing crackdown on dissent in Zimbabwe, amid political tension. In February, authorities arrested Blessed Mhlanga, a journalist with Alpha Media Holdings, and held him for over 10 weeks on baseless charges of incitement in connection with his coverage of war veterans who demanded Mnangagwa’s resignation. The Zimbabwe Independent is a subsidiary of Alpha Media Holdings.

A spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Republic Police, Paul Nyathi, did not answer CPJ’s calls and a query sent via messaging app requesting comment.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Lauren Wolfe.

Iranian media under siege after Israel war, internet disrupted

Soran Rashid — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:18:56 +0000

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, July 2, 2025—The dead have been buried and most journalists detained during Iran’s 12-day war with Israel have been freed, but the media are still reeling, as authorities crack down on critical voices and disrupt internet access.

The state news agency has announced a “season of traitor-killing,” with hundreds of people arrested and at least six executed since the war ended on June 25. Parliament approved a law on June 29 that mandates the death penalty for collaborating with Israel, the United States, or other “hostile” countries – a charge often used to describe media that report critically.

London-based Iran International TV spokesperson Adam Baillie said the new law would “widen the legal dragnet” against journalists and criminalizes contact with media outlets based abroad.

Journalists trying to report within Iran also face internet restrictions.

“We technically have internet, but access to the global web has been cut by half,” Hassan Abbasi, a journalist with Rokna news agency told CPJ from the capital Tehran on July 1, referring to reduced speeds and frequent disruptions.

Abbasi said internet access was selectively granted during the war. The communications ministry restricted access on June 13, the first day of the conflict, citing “special conditions.” Connectivity was largely restored after the ceasefire.

“Only large media outlets aligned with the government’s narrative were allowed to stay online,” Abbasi said. “Independent and local journalists like us couldn’t report – many agencies were effectively silenced, he said. “They wanted to cut off access to outside news and stop reports from inside.”

The June 29 law also banned the use or import of unauthorized internet communication tools like Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service, punishable by up to two years in prison.

‘Journalists are not enemies of the state’

“The arrests, internet disruptions, and intimidation of journalists during and after the Iran-Israel war reflect a troubling continuation of Iran’s ongoing efforts to control the media,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “These acts of censorship undermine press freedom and create fear among those trying to report the truth. Journalists are not enemies of the state.”

Smoke rises from Iran’s state-run television after an Israeli strike in Tehran on June 16. (Photo: AP)

Since the war began, CPJ has documented the following incidents:

On June 15, journalist Saleh Bayrami was killed by an Israel airstrike on Tehran.

On June 16, journalist Nima Rajabpour and media worker Masoumeh Azimi were hit by an Israeli airstrike on state-owned broadcaster IRIB’s headquarters and died the following day.

On June 16, Shargh journalist Ali Pakzad was detained while covering airstrike damage in Tehran and released two days later.

On June 17, freelance photojournalist Majid Saeedi was arrested in Tehran while photographing the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on IRIB’s headquarters. He told CPJ he climbed to a high point to capture images of smoke when police detained him and later transferred him to Evin prison.

“The next day, a judge reviewed my case in the prison courtyard, where officials brought over a chair for him to sit on,” Saeedi added. “He said that because I had a valid press ID and authorization, there was no issue, and he ordered my release.”

On June 21, Iran International TV reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had detained the mother, father, and younger brother of one of its presenters to pressure her into resigning.

In a June 27 email to CPJ, spokesperson Baillie confirmed that the family members had been released but described the incident as “a profoundly worrying turning point in the type of action taken by the IRGC and security forces against the families of Iranian journalists abroad.”

On June 21, photographer and designer Reza Daryakenari was arrested in a Tehran café. His Instagram account went offline after June 26. As of July 1, he remained in detention on unknown charges.

People ride past Tehran’s Evin Prison on June 29, after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike. (Photo: WANA via Reuters/Majid Asgaripour)

On June 23, Israeli forces bombed Evin prison, which houses at least six journalists, including Iranian-American Reza Valizadeh. Authorities reported 71 deaths, including prisoners, but did not release names. One person with knowledge of Evin prison told CPJ that all the detained journalists were safe and had been transferred to other prisons.

On June 24, the online outlet Entekhab News was blocked for “disruptive wartime reporting.” The judiciary said the outlet was undermining public security through its critical coverage. On June 30, it was unblocked.

CPJ’s emails requesting comment from Iran’s foreign affairs and information ministries did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Soran Rashid.

Paramount reaches $16M settlement with Trump over ‘60 Minutes’ interview

CPJ Staff — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 14:57:52 +0000

Atlanta, July 2, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Paramount Global’s $16 million settlement with U.S. President Donald Trump reached on Tuesday, with deep concern that such a concession by a major news network will set a harmful precedent of media self-censorship.

“This is a major blow for press freedom in the United States: A network news outlet has just caved to groundless threats from the president over its coverage,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg in New York. “This signals that the current administration–as well as any future administrations–can interfere with, or influence, editorial decisions.”

In a lawsuit filed last year, Trump accused CBS, whose parent company is Paramount Global, of deceptively editing a ’60 Minutes’ interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris to interfere with the election. Paramount Global will pay the settlement amount, including legal fees, to Trump’s future presidential library, according to news reports.

Last month, CPJ wrote to the chair of Paramount Global, Shari Redstone, warning her that a settlement would signal that political figures can pressure news organizations into altering or censoring editorial decisions.

The FCC is investigating a merger deal between CBS parent company Paramount and Skydance, a deal that could have been endangered by the possibility of litigation from Trump. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) earlier this year re-opened a news distortion investigation into CBS.

CPJ’s request to Paramount Global for comment on the settlement’s editorial implications did not receive an immediate reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Tunisia adds 2 more years to jailed commentator Sonia Dahmani’s sentence

CPJ Staff — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 14:28:22 +0000

New York, July 2, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate release of Tunisian media commentator Sonia Dahmani, who was sentenced on June 30 to an additional two years in prison for condemning racism in the country, a crime for which she is already serving jail time.

Dahmani’s lawyers withdrew from Monday’s trial to protest that the court was illegally trying her twice for the same act, the journalist’s sister, Ramla Dahmani, told CPJ, referring to the legal principle of double jeopardy.

“Handing Tunisian lawyer and media commentator Sonia Dahmani an additional two-year sentence, on top of her existing term for the same media commentary, is not only harsh, but appears to be a targeted effort to silence her personally,” said CPJ Chief Programs Officer Carlos Martínez de la Serna. “Tunisian authorities must drop all charges against Dahmani and ensure that journalists can make political commentary without being targeted.”

In October 2024, Dahman, who is also a prominent lawyer, received a two-year sentence under Decree 54 on cybercrime on charges of spreading “false” news for commenting on the local independent radio station IFM about the mistreatment of sub-Saharan Africans in Tunisia.

The court said that the second sentence on June 30 was for her comments to a second outlet, the television channel Carthage Plus.

In September 2024, Dahmani was given an eight-month sentence following her May arrest over separate comments she made on Carthage Plus, where she criticized Tunisia’s living conditions and discussed immigration.

Her case is widely seen as part of a broader crackdown on journalists, opposition figures, and government critics that has intensified since President Kais Saied suspended parliament in 2021 and introduced a new constitution, giving himself nearly unchecked power.

According to CPJ’s latest annual prison census, at least five journalists were behind bars in Tunisia on December 1, 2024, the highest number since 1992.

CPJ’s email to the Presidency requesting comment did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

As nations lag on climate action, their cities are stepping up. Here’s proof.

Matt Simon — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 08:30:00 +0000

Your city is probably fighting climate change in more ways than you realize. Perhaps your mayor is on a mission to plant more trees, or they’ve set efficiency standards for buildings, requiring better windows and insulation. Maybe they’ve even electrified your public transportation, reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

Ten years after the Paris Agreement, nations are still nowhere near ambitious enough in their commitments to reduce emissions and avoid the worst consequences of climate change. More than that, they haven’t shown enough follow-through on the goals they did set. Instead, it’s been cities and other local governments that have taken the lead. According to a new report by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and C40 — a global network of nearly 100 mayors prioritizing climate action, collectively representing nearly 600 million people — three quarters of the cities in the latter group are slashing their per capita emissions faster than their national governments. As global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, per capita emissions across C40’s cities fell 7.5 percent on average between 2015 and 2024.

“The untold story is that cities and local leaders really mobilized in a big way in Paris, but also in the decade since,” said Asif Nawaz Shah, co-author of the report and the head of impact and global partnerships at C40 and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. “It’s where the action happens, and it’s also where people are suffering the impacts the most.”

Cities are adapting because they’re experiencing especially acute effects of climate change as their populations rapidly grow. They’re getting much hotter than surrounding rural areas due to the urban heat island effect, in which the built environment soaks up the sun’s energy during the day and slowly releases it at night. Because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, they’re suffering increasingly catastrophic flooding as rains overwhelm sewer systems designed for the climate of yesteryear. And coastal cities have to deal with sea-level rise, in addition to fiercer tropical storms.

Mayors can more quickly deploy fixes than national governments can, climate experts say. Cities are less politically divided, for instance, and officials are more in tune with the immediate needs of their residents than a faraway federal government is. “I think that’s part of what makes it easier for mayors to make the case for climate action, because they’re not just addressing a concept that can seem a little abstract,” Shah said. “They’re addressing it through the lens of what people’s lived realities and experiences are.”

By making their cities more liveable, mayors also make them more sustainable, especially when it comes to walkability, bikeability, and vehicle transportation. The report notes that Melbourne, Australia is on a quest to create “20-minute neighborhoods,” in which people can reach most of their daily needs — work, schools, grocery stores — within a 20-minute return walk from home. Over in Shenzhen, China, officials have electrified 16,000 buses, reducing annual CO2 emissions by over 200,000 tons.

And by literally greening their cities, mayors solve a bunch of their citizens’ problems at once. In Quezon City in the Philippines, the government turned unused land into 337 gardens and 10 model farms, while training more than 4,000 urban farmers. The report also notes that Freetown, Sierra Leone, planted more than 550,000 trees, creating more than 600 jobs. In addition to significantly reducing urban temperatures, these green spaces also mitigate flooding by soaking up rainwater. “It is becoming clear, I think, to a lot of municipalities that this type of action will be absolutely essential,” said Dan Jasper, senior policy advisor at the climate solutions group Project Drawdown, which wasn’t involved in the report. “It’s not just about being uncomfortable. This is about protecting people’s lives.”

Mayors are also improving access to clean energy and more efficient appliances. The report notes that Buenos Aires, Argentina installed solar panels on more than 100 schools, while Qab Elias, Lebanon went a step further by partnering with a private supplier to allow half of its homes to install solar.

It’s not as if all nations are leaving cities to their own devices, though. The Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships, for instance, is an initiative signed by more than 70 national governments to help cities, states, and regions with planning and financing climate action. “I find it very heartening, to be honest, that cities really are taking the lead,” Jasper said. “I think they’re going above and beyond in some respects, about planning for the future, as well as actually implementing some of the things that the federal governments have signed on to.”

Still, not nearly enough funding is flowing to cities and other local governments to do all the climate action they need. Unlike national governments, they can’t print their own money, so they’re strictly limited by their budgets. Conservative governments like the Trump administration are also slashing funds for climate action. Last year, 611 cities disclosed 2,500 projects worth $179 billion, but urban climate finance has to rise to $4.5 trillion each year by 2030, the report says. These are not donations but investments with returns: Spending money now to adapt to climate change means spending less on disaster recovery and health care in the future. “It’s not a call for handouts or for freebies,” Shah said. “It’s a call for genuine long-term investment that will yield results to protect citizens and livelihoods.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline As nations lag on climate action, their cities are stepping up. Here’s proof. on Jul 2, 2025.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Matt Simon.

A Battle for Humane Consciousness in a War Against Truth: Exposing the Dark Arts of War

Paul Haeder — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 13:04:12 +0000

The total liberation and unification of Africa under an All-African Socialist Government must be the primary objective of all Black revolutionaries throughout the world. It is an objective which, when achieved, will bring about the fulfillment of the aspirations of Africans and people of African descent everywhere. It will at the same time advance the triumph of the international socialist revolution, and the onward progress towards world communism, under which, every society is ordered on the principle of –from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
— Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah

Jeremy Kuzmarov was kind to spend an hour with me, since I am much more polemical and hyperbolic than his measured writing belies. I’ve written numerous times why it is I am now switched to write THAT way, and there is no need for me to defend my rhetoric and utilizing some of the 11 forms of propaganda Edward Bernays and Goebbels and Madison Avenue and Hasbara Industry deploy.

We talked about his new book, Warmonger: How Clinton’s Malign Foreign Policy Launched the US Trajectory from Bush II to Biden, Clarity Press, Inc., 2023.

Here, this book is divided into thirteen chapters and provides a comprehensive overview of Clinton’s foreign policy across the globe. Utilizing archival research from the Clinton Presidential Library, oral history interviews, alongside a plethora of newspapers and scholarship focusing on the 1990s, Kuzmarov provides succinct overviews of high-profile and well-known events, such as genocide in the Balkans and in Rwanda, and lesser-known case studies such as the administration’s disastrous reworking of the Russian economy or Clinton’s support for dictators in Africa. Kuzmarov makes the salient point that despite rhetoric to the contrary, Clinton was never interested in human rights or humanitarianism when it came to intervention. Rather, the administration was quick to set aside human rights when it served its interests.

With those Clinton years, we have had the perfect caldron of the witch’s and devil’s brew of a slim-ball, a Cecil Rhodes and Chatam House rodent, and not America’s first Black or Republican president, Clinton working his dark arts with the neo-cons and neoliberals and the imperialists.

Here’s the book’s blurb:

During the 2016 presidential election, many younger voters repudiated Hillary Clinton because of her husband’s support for mass incarceration, banking deregulation and free-trade agreements that led many U.S. jobs to be shipped overseas. Warmonger: How Clinton’s Malign Foreign Policy Launched the Trajectory from Bush II to Biden, shows that Clinton’s foreign policy was just as bad as his domestic policy. Cultivating an image as a former anti-Vietnam War activist to win over the aging hippie set in his early years, as president, Clinton bombed six countries and, by the end of his first term, had committed U.S. troops to 25 separate military operations, compared to 17 in Ronald Reagan’s two terms. Clinton further expanded America’s covert empire of overseas surveillance outposts and spying and increased the budget for intelligence spending and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a CIA offshoot which promoted regime change in foreign nations.

The latter was not surprising because, according to CIA operative Cord Meyer Jr., Clinton had been recruited into the CIA while a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and as Governor of Arkansas in the 1980s he had allowed clandestine arms and drug flights to Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries (Contras) backed by the CIA to be taken from Mena Airport in the western part of the state. Rather than being a time of tranquility when the U.S. failed to pay attention to the gathering storm of terrorism, as New York Times columnist David Brooks frames it, the Clinton presidency saw rising tensions among the U.S., China and Russia because of Clinton’s malign foreign policies, and U.S. complicity in terrorist acts.

In so many ways, Clinton’s presidency set the groundwork for the disasters that were to follow under Bush II, Obama, Trump, and Biden. It was Clinton―building off of Reagan―who first waged a War on Terror ridden with double standards, one that adopted terror tactics, including extraordinary rendition, bombing and the use of drones. It was Clinton who cried wolf about human rights abuses and the need to protect beleaguered peoples from genocide to justify military intervention in a post-Cold War age. And it was Clinton’s administration that pressed for regime change in Iraq and raised public alarm about the mythic WMDs―all while relying on fancy new military technologies and private military contractors to distance US shady military interventions from the public to limit dissent.

We spent a lot of time looking at the history of Covert Action Bulletin. We talked about language, the so-called alternative press, what real liberalism was and how liberalism now is an evil spin factory of the neoliberal variety.

- controlled opposition
- limited hangout

Discredit, disrupt, and destroy
Operation Paperclip
ECHELON
MKUltra
DARPA

The list goes on and on and on. Phoenix Program? We know Covert Programs need Covert Action.

LANGUAGE. That whole concept of people berating me for reading CAM articles, for citing guys like William Blum or Douglas Valentine or Jeremy, it’s all based on the language of the oppressed, the amnesiac, colonized, lobotomized, brainwashed, miseducated, anesthetized.

The idea of the CIA being the premier agency of no good, murder incorporated, full of machinations on economic hits and country destabilization.

Yes, the Mossad has taken CIA and British intelligence agencies up a few notches, but we both agree that this was planned, or part of the plan.

You can go to Covert Action Magazine and hit any number of topic arenas you might fancy as your primary interest: social justice issues including intervention, war, covert action, intelligence, political economy, imperialism, labor, repression, surveillance, media, racial justice, sexism, environmentalism, and immigration

By Chris Agee

CovertAction Magazine began publishing in 1978 as a newsletter called Covert Action Information Bulletin (CAIB) and later as CovertAction Quarterly (CAQ). The magazine developed a following not as a conspiracy-theory-related publication, but as a source for reliable, consistent, and accurate investigative reporting.

Originally, CAIB was a watchdog journal that focused on the abuses and activities of the CIA, yet it has gradually evolved into a more general, progressive investigative magazine.

CAIB was cofounded and copublished by Ellen Ray, William Schaap, and Louis Wolf, along with former CIA agents such as James and Elsie Wilcott, and Philip Agee, author of Inside the Company: CIA Diary and On The Run.

Following in the tradition of CounterSpy Magazine (1973-1984)—with whom the founders of CAIB had originally worked—highlights of CAIB included the notorious “Naming Names” column, which printed the names of CIA officers under diplomatic cover. These were tracked through exhaustive research in the State Department Biographic Register and various domestic and international diplomatic lists.

This column, and others like it, came to an end in 1982 when the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was signed into law by Ronald Reagan. CAIB had to end the “Naming Names” column, but more significantly, the act required that magazines such as CAIB be more wary about the names they published within the articles of their contributors. This was particularly significant after December 1975 when Richard S. Welch, a CIA station chief, was assassinated in Athens, Greece. CounterSpy was criticized by both the CIA and the press for its exposure of the agent’s name.

While almost every issue focused on the CIA and its activities in regions like Central America and Southeast Asia, CAIB also covered the CIA interference in the domestic media and on university campuses, as well as a wider range of domestic and international political issues. Occasionally, CAIB dedicated entire issues to surveillance technologies, the U.S. prison system, the environment, Mad Cow disease, AIDS, ECHELON, media cover-ups, Iraqi sanctions, and the so-called “war against drugs.”

Contributing authors have included intellectuals, writers, and activists such as Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Sara Flounders, Philip Agee, John Pilger, Ramsey Clark, Leonard Peltier, Allen Ginsberg, Diana Johnstone, Laura Flanders, Edward S. Herman, and Ward Churchill.

In 1992, with Issue 43, CAIB changed its name to CovertAction Quarterly (CAQ). As a 64 to 78-page magazine published four times a year, the publication became fondly known as the magazine “recommended by Noam Chomsky; targeted by the CIA.” CAQ had a reputation for beating to the punch more mainstream standard-bearers, such as the New York Times.

In 1995, it covered the genocide in Rwanda and U.S. complicity in those events, years before any other publication cared to notice; it ran in-depth investigative articles on the rise of homegrown militias before the Oklahoma bombing; and it was the first U.S. publication to reveal the existence of ECHELON (the security agencies’ surveillance software).

CAQ was the regular recipient of the annual Project Censored awards for the Top 25 Censored Stories.

Twenty-eighteen was the 40th anniversary of the founding of CovertAction and its publisher Covert Action Publications, Inc. Former writers and publishers of CAIB and CAQ relaunched as CovertAction Magazine (CAM).

The relaunch team also intends to publish several books including an annual compilation of the best of CAM, an encyclopedia of espionage and a republication of CIA Diary: Inside the Company and On The Run by Philip Agee, volumes which will include Philip Agee’s iconic articles and papers.

The relaunch team is headed up by the co-founder, publisher and writer, Louis Wolf, as well as our tried and true investigative journalists, professors, organizers, funders, proofreaders and legal representation. The expanded team includes Chris Agee, William Blum, Jack Colhoun, Michel Chossudovsky, Mark Cook, Jennifer Harbury, Bill Montross, Immanuel Ness, James Petras, Karen Ranucci, Stephanie Reich, Hobart Spalding, Victor Wallis and Melvin L. Wulf, all of whom worked with, and/or wrote for, the magazine in the past.

New talent that has come on board for the relaunch include Sam Alcoff, Steve Brown, Tom Burgess, Hester Eisenstein, Victoria Gamez, David Giglio, Josh Klein, Maureen LaMar, Michael Locker, and Chuck Mohan, to name a few.

All together, the expanded team specializes in a variety of social justice issues including intervention, war, covert action, intelligence, political economy, imperialism, labor, repression, surveillance, media, racial justice, sexism, environmentalism, and immigration. See our masthead for more details.

The archives will illustrate the beginnings of the hard copy newsletter/magazine — Archives /CovertAction Magazine.

Interestingly enough, Jeremy has had his hit entry into the propaganda machine, Canary Mission, updated after his article appeared both on his Substack and in CAM: On the One-Year Anniversary of October 7, It is Clear We Were Not Told The Truth

Imagine that title’s subordinate first clause being replaced by any number of topics

On the One-Year Anniversary of the Planned SARS-CoV2 pandemic
On the One-Year Anniversary of the USS Liberty
On the One-Year Anniversary of September 11
On the One-Year Anniversary of Gulf on Tonkin
On the One-Year Anniversary of War on Terror
On the One-Year Anniversary of US Patriot Act
On the One-Year Anniversary of Bush, Biden, Obama, Trump Administrations
On the One-Year Anniversary of / / /

Pearl Harbor?

Sinking of the Lusitania?

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Here’s Jeremy’s ending to that article:

In that case, a British commission uncovered that the Lusitania—carrying more than 100 American passengers from the U.S. to Europe (over 1,000 died overall)—was rigged with explosives, though the destruction of the ship was blamed on Germany.

Winston Churchill, then the First Lord of the Admiralty, withheld rescue boats to maximize the number of deaths. The aim was to generate enough outrage for the U.S. public to want to go to war against Germany.^[5]

Evidence indicates that Benjamin Netanyahu has adopted the same strategy of Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt in sacrificing the lives of his own people in order to arouse enough anger to generate support for war.

Roosevelt and Churchill are today regarded as national heroes in their respective countries, though Netanyahu is likely to go down in history as a villain, along with his American sponsors. This is because the Israelis have failed to earn a heroic victory against Gaza and have horrified much of the world with the atrocities that they have committed.

Overview

Jeremy Kuzmarov spread anti-Israel conspiracy theories during Israel’s war against Hamas. He has also expressed hatred of Israel and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

These Mitzvah Elves, man, this fucking Canary Mission putting thousands of good honest thinkers onto their web site to incite hatred and deplatforming and doxing and you name it:

Continuing with the hateful Canary Mission:

Hatred of Israel

On June 8, 2017, Kuzmarov published an article titled: “Six-Day War A Turning Point In Passionate Attachment To Israel.”

In the article, Kusmarov wrote how the Six-Day War transformed “Israel into an occupier” of “historic Palestine (West Bank and Gaza).”

Kuzmarov further stated in his article:

“The myth of Israel as a humane and embattled David fighting the Arab Goliath has been debunked in recent years, with world opinion expressing growing sympathy for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.”

Read: Who is behind Canary Mission’s anonymous anti-Palestinian blacklisting website? by Hamzah Raza and Max Blumenthal·August 22, 2018

We talked about education, the movement within higher education to suppress and single out and even fire peace activists fighting to expose the lies of Israel, AIPAC, Jewish ties to genocide, both within Israel and outside it.

He’s an adjunct professor at Tulsa Community College, and he says his students in his history courses are for the most part open to learning and getting deep into the reveal, that is, to look at the real history of America, to get to the underbelly and to question their own blinded brainwashing and the grand and meta-hyper narratives of this land tis of thee.

My show, Finding Fringe, airs Wednesdays, 6 pm PST, this one with Jeremy is all the way to Sept. 3. Above is a great line-up via Zoom Doom, with amazing people I have followed over the past few years.

Topics of Discussion:

Operation Timber Sycamore – Unpacking the U.S.-backed CIA program and its impact.
Empowering al Qaeda – Examining how covert foreign support fueled extremist groups
Genocide of Syrian Minorities – Investigating the targeted violence against ethnic and religious communities

Featured Speakers:

Dan Kovalik – Human rights lawyer and author
Fiorella Isabel – Investigative journalist and analyst
Ben Arthur Thomason – Researcher and peace advocate
Vanessa Beeley – War correspondent and independent journalist

Tickets: Just $25! All proceeds support CAM’s independent investigative journalism and fundraising initiatives.

*****

Support CAM and send an email to KYAQ and thank them for running my hour-long weekly shows:

6 pm to 7 Wednesdays

July 2 will be Freedom Farms. Working the soil when leaving incarceration — https://freedom-farms.org/

July 9, reintroducing Sea Otters to Oregon with Chanel Hason, Elakha Alliance — https://www.elakhaalliance.org/

July 16, Nigeria, Madu Smart Ajaja, from Houston, talking about his country Nigeria.

Will Potter, Green is the New Red and his newest book, Little Red Barns, July 23: Animal rights and gag laws and designating farm animal rights folk as terrorists. == https://www.willpotter.com/

July 30 local woman, from Waldport, fighting the City Manager and road crew, Teresa Carter.

August 6 Wisconsin’s Draconian probation provisos on steroids, and other issues around the prison industrial complex with Kelly Kloss.

Max Wilbert, Bright Green Lies, and with CELDF, and an environmental sanity warrior. 13 August. — https://celdf.org/ Biocentric with Max Wilbert

Taylor Yount, with her new book, My Sutured Mind: Poems of Healing Beyond Trauma, with local Ukrainian artist, Veta Bakhtina, artwork. August 27.

September 3, Jeremy Kuzmarov, author of five books, his latest being, Warmonger: How Clinton’s Malign Foreign Policy Launched the US Trajectory from Bush II to Biden and managing editor of Covert Action Magazine — https://covertactionmagazine.com/

Zachary Stocks, Executive Director, Oregon Black Pioneers September 10 == https://oregonblackpioneers.org/

My interview June 27 with Jeremy Kuzmarov.

*****

I’m not sure if CAM has had Amaju Baraka on as a guest or writer, but I highly recommend his most recent interview here:

Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the U.S. and Israeli Final Solution for Gaza and the West Bank
Justice Demands Action against Zionism, not Hypocritical Rhetoric from the States of the “West”

Just as Nazi Germany sought the total elimination of Jewish life, the state of Israel, with full U.S. support, is now openly pursuing the systematic annihilation of the people of Gaza, the acceleration of mass displacement in the West Bank, and the denial of Palestinian nationhood itself. Those who dare to speak out are vilified, censored, or stripped of their livelihoods, ensuring complicity through coercion. The Black Alliance for Peace rejects this moral and political blackmail. True solidarity demands courage—refusing to be silenced or pacified as we witness, document, and resist this ongoing genocide. History will judge not only the perpetrators but also those who stood by in cowardly silence…

Those with the power to do so can either take such measures or abdicate their humanity. Palestine will not be free until Zionism, along with all white supremacist ideologies, is defeated. BAP will continue to do everything in its power to ensure the final defeat of global white supremacy that is materially grounded in imperialism.

We Stand With Iran 19 June 2025 By A-APRP

The illegal zionist state of Israel started bombing Iran on Friday, June 13th, 2025. The aerial bombing coincided with the assassination of a number of scientists, generals and civilians. This unprovoked, criminal assault was accompanied by sabotage of government facilities, drone attacks on civilian infrastructure and the unleashing of internal cells loyal to the west, determined to dismantle the Iranian state. Taken as a whole the military assault is eerily reminiscent of the 2011 attack on Libya that killed Muammar Gaddafi and devastated Africa’s most progressive nation state.

This is all done to ensure US dominance in the region under the pretext of stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The capitalist mainstream media, the US Government, and Israel are claiming Israel is protecting itself from a powerful nuclear neighbor. But a careful analysis reveals a quite different reality. Firstly, Israel is the state that possesses nuclear weapons. They are aggressors claiming to be victims. Secondly Israel is nothing more than a proxy of US led imperialism, which wants to economically and militarily dominate the region. This is part of the imperialist plan to dominate the world.

The zionist state of Israel was created to serve the interests of imperialism by establishing an imperialist fortress in Western Asia.

Last Gasp Of A Dying Monster (The Imperialist Military Assault)

Imperialism (through the zionist entity in Israel) instituted regime change in Syria, and executed genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. Iran supports the Palestinians with arms, money, training and material. Iran is now being targeted for regime change.

We must also take note that these Imperialist/zionist forces are not confining their military activity to one country or region. While a new war rages in Iran, imperialism creates ongoing conflicts of various types in the Western Sahara, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, DRC, Sudan, Guinea Bissau, the Alliance For Sahelian States (which includes Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso), Venezuela, Nicaraqua, Cuba, North Korea, Haiti, Russia, China and other places throughout the world. This is in fact an imperialist policy of Full Spectrum Domination.

The U.S. has at least 45 military bases surrounding Iran and the US has already threatened Iran declaring,“If Iran attacks any U.S. military bases we will bomb Iran with the likes they have never seen”. After lying about their involvement in the attacks on Iran by Israelis the US president went on to say, “We gave them a chance to negotiate a peace agreement and they wouldn’t agree to our terms.” So, now they will have to come to the negotiation table and agree to our terms.”

This is how the dying capitalists/imperialists act in their last stage of existence. They engage in multiple wars, terrorism and genocide as they are declining. They try to kill, terrorize as many people and nations as possible. But, they have been losing militarily, economically and politically everywhere. Including losing the propaganda war around the world.

…

The Significance of Pan-Africanism

A new wave of anti-neo colonial resistance that is sweeping Africa is reshaping oil and gas politics, challenging imperialist dominance, and aligning with the BRICS led push to “de-dollarize” the world’s economy. This movement is driven by youth uprisings, military coups, formation of alliances, and rising ideological awareness that imperialism is the enemy of humanity.

*****

Dan’s a regular CAM columnist: The War on Iran Has Been Long in the Making, and the U.S. Is Already a Party to It

This is one measure of the talent and deep thinkers over at CAM: Daniel Kovalik graduated from Columbia University School of Law in 1993. He then served as in-house counsel for the United Steelworkers, AFL-CIO (USW) until 2019.

While with the USW, he worked on Alien Tort Claims Act cases against The Coca-Cola Company, Drummond and Occidental Petroleum—cases arising out of egregious human rights abuses in Colombia.

The Christian Science Monitor, referring to his work defending Colombian unionists under threat of assassination, described Mr. Kovalik as “one of the most prominent defenders of Colombian workers in the United States.”

Mr. Kovalik received the David W. Mills Mentoring Fellowship from Stanford University School of Law and was the recipient of the Project Censored Award for his article exposing the unprecedented killing of trade unionists in Colombia.

He has written extensively on the issue of international human rights and U.S. foreign policy for the Huffington Post and Counterpunch and has lectured throughout the world on these subjects. He is the author of several books including The Plot To Overthrow Venezuela, How The US Is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil, which includes a Foreword by Oliver Stone; The Plot to Attack Iran: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Iran; and with Jeremy Kuzmarov, Syria: Anatomy of a Regime Change.

Michael Parenti:

Jeremy and I talked about that, calling people like CAM writers and readers “nuts”, conspiracy nuts. Imagine that, so, these lobbies, these collective K=Street organizations and their legal squads/associations/groups, no, there are no conspiracies to COVER UP there!

Total number of registered lobbyists in the United States from 2000 to 2024

Yeah, so billions a year spent by lobbies — just call them protection rackets or overt and covert organizations/cartels representing not just special interest a or b, but collectively, representing the entire fucking corporations and groups just in one arena:

Nah, not undue influence? In 2024, the groups that spent the most on lobbying were the National Association of Realtors, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Hospital Association, and the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America.

1,517 (55.04%)

The number of pharmaceutical/health product lobbyists in the United States and the percentage who are former government employees, as of June 1, 2025.

You thought it was offensive weapons companies? Why, when the Military Mercenaries have their own taxpayer paid for mafia —

Military Departments:

Responsible for organizing, training, and equipping land forces.

Department of the Navy: Includes the Navy and Marine Corps, responsible for sea-based and amphibious operations.

Department of the Air Force: Responsible for air and space operations.

Other Key Components:

Joint Chiefs of Staff:

A group of high-ranking military officers who advise the President, Secretary of Defense, and National Security Council on military matters.

Unified Combatant Commands:

Eleven regional or functional commands responsible for military operations in specific areas or for specific functions. Examples include U.S. Central Command, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and U.S. Cyber Command.

Defense Agencies:

Various agencies that provide specialized support to the military departments and combatant commands, such as the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Do these agencies below need lobbies? They are already built into the system:

Department of Justice:

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): Investigates violations of federal law, including terrorism, cybercrime, and organized crime.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA): Enforces federal drug laws and combats drug trafficking.
United States Marshals Service (USMS): Protects the federal judiciary, apprehends fugitives, and manages seized assets.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF): Enforces federal laws related to alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives.
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP): Manages the federal prison system.

Department of Homeland Security:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP): Secures US borders and enforces customs laws.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): Enforces immigration and customs laws.
U.S. Secret Service (USSS): Protects national leaders and investigates financial crimes.
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG): Enforces maritime laws and conducts search and rescue.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA): Secures transportation systems.
Federal Protective Service (FPS): Protects federal buildings and property.

Other Federal Agencies:

U.S. Capitol Police: Protects the U.S. Capitol Building and grounds.
Amtrak Police Department: Provides law enforcement services for Amtrak’s national passenger rail system.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation: Investigates tax fraud and other financial crimes.
Military Criminal Investigative Organizations: Each branch of the military has its own investigative service (e.g., NCIS for the Navy, OSI for the Air Force).
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Police: Protects DIA facilities and personnel.

Some conspiracy, uh?

Organizations within the Department of Defense:

Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA): Provides military intelligence to warfighters, policymakers, and defense planners.
National Security Agency (NSA): Focuses on signals intelligence (SIGINT) and cybersecurity.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA): Provides geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), including imagery and mapping.
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO): Develops, acquires, launches, and operates reconnaissance satellites.
Army Intelligence: Provides intelligence support to the US Army.
Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI): Provides naval intelligence to the US Navy.
Air Force Intelligence: Provides intelligence support to the US Air Force.
U.S. Space Force Intelligence: Provides intelligence for space operations.
Marine Corps Intelligence: Provides intelligence for Marine Corps operations.
Coast Guard Intelligence: Focuses on maritime threats and homeland security.

Other key agencies:

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): A civilian foreign intelligence service responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing intelligence related to national security.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis: Focuses on homeland security intelligence.
Department of Energy Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence: Deals with nuclear proliferation and energy-related intelligence.
Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research: Provides foreign policy intelligence to the State Department.
Department of the Treasury Office of Intelligence and Analysis: Focuses on financial intelligence related to national security.
Drug Enforcement Administration Intelligence Program: Focuses on drug-related intelligence.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Counterintelligence Division: Investigates foreign espionage and other threats to national security.
Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI): Oversees and coordinates the activities of the entire Intelligence Community.
National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC): A component of the ODNI, focused on counterterrorism intelligence.

War is a Very Expensive and Devil’s Bargain — The BIG LIE.

Now now, I really did not go off topic. CAM, Covert Action Magazine. Open it up, man. Just put in the Google “Ukraine and Covert Action Magazine.” Do that for any topic. “Covert Action Magazine and Gaza.” Etc.

Jeremy is a simple guy who believes in truth, and he questions the narratives and the agencies that are the mafias and cartels protecting the agencies, who are just economic hitmen, in that Racket, sir, Gen. Butler.

“Every government is run by liars. Nothing they say should be believed.”
― I.F. Stone

It would have been a hell of a conversation with Jeremy and Stone (R.I.P.):

To write the truth as I see it; to defend the weak against the strong; to fight for justice; and to seek, as best I can to bring healing perspectives to bear on their terrible hates and fears of mankind, in the hope of someday bringing about one world, in which men[and women] will enjoy the differences of the human garden instead of killing each other over them.
― Isidor Feinstein Stone

Listen to my interview with Jeremy of CAM here, KYAQ.

The enduring quality of the myth of the addicted army in many respects demonstrates America’s long-standing inability to come to terms with the moral consequences of the Vietnam War. By reimagining their soldiers as victims and the U.S. military defeat as a “tragedy,” Americans were able to deflect responsibility for the massive destruction and loss of life inflicted on the people of Southeast Asia and thus to avoid serious reconsideration of the ideological principles that rationalized the American intervention. The silencing and demonizing of dissenting voices, including antiwar GIs typecast as psychopathic junkies, aided in this process.”
— Jeremy Kuzmarov in “The Myth of the Addicted Army”

With remarkable continuity, police aid was used not just to target criminals but to develop elaborate intelligence networks oriented towards internal defense, which allowed the suppression of dissident groups to take place on a wider scope and in a more surgical and often brutal way. In effect, the U.S. helped to modernize intelligence gathering and political policing operations, thus magnifying their impact. They further helped to militarize the police and provided them with a newfound perception of power, while schooling them in a hard-line anticommunism that fostered the dehumanization of political adversaries and bred suspicion about grass-roots mobilization…… Although the U.S. was not always in control of the forces that it empowered and did not always condone their acts, human rights violations were not by accident or the product of rogue forces betraying American principles, as some have previously argued. They were rather institutionalized within the fabric of American policy and its coercive underpinnings.
— Jeremy Kuzmarov in “Modernizing Repression: Police Training, Nation-Building and the Spread of Political Violence in the American Century,” Diplomatic History, April 2009

The post A Battle for Humane Consciousness in a War Against Truth: Exposing the Dark Arts of War first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Paul Haeder.

CPJ calls on Georgia solicitor-general to investigate charges against journalist Mario Guevara

Lauren Wolfe — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 18:54:43 +0000

The Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter on Friday, June 27, to Gwinnett County Solicitor-General Lisamarie N. Bristol in Georgia to express concerns about three misdemeanor charges levied against journalist Mario Guevara. In the letter, CPJ asked Bristol to open an investigation as to why these charges — distracted driving, failure to obey traffic control devices, and reckless driving — were only brought against Guevara approximately one month after the alleged incidents occurred, and after ICE had issued a detainer.

Guevara, an Emmy-winning, Spanish-language reporter who covers immigration on his “MGnews” Facebook page and other social media platforms, was arrested on June 14 while livestreaming a “No Kings” protest against the actions of the Trump administration in an Atlanta suburb. According to video footage of his arrest, Guevara was wearing a press pass and clearly identified himself as a journalist to law enforcement.

The initial charges that led to Guevara’s arrest were dropped by the DeKalb County solicitor-general on June 25 due to insufficient evidence.

Guevara was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after the immigration authority issued a detainer against the journalist, who has authorization to work in the United States. At the time of the letter’s publication, Guevara was being held in the Folkston ICE Processing Center, his lawyer told CPJ.

Read the full letter here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Lauren Wolfe.

Cuban journalist targeted with threats, intimidation after refusing police summons

CPJ Staff — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 20:19:01 +0000

Miami, June 26, 2025—Cuban authorities must end their intimidation of two community-media journalists, Amanecer Habanero director Yunia Figueredo and her husband, reporter Frank Correa, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.

Figueredo refused to comply with a June 23 police summons, reviewed by CPJ. On that same day she received three private number phone calls warning her that a police investigation had been opened against her and Correa for “dangerousness,” the journalists told CPJ. On June 16, a local police officer parked outside the journalists’ home told them that they weren’t allowed to leave in an incident witnessed by others in the neighborhood.

“The Cuban government must halt its harassment of journalists Yunia Figueredo and Frank Correa, and allow them to continue their work with the community media outlet, Amanecer Habanero,” said CPJ U.S., Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “Reporters should not be threatened into silence with legal orders.”

Cuba’s private media companies have come under increased scrutiny from a new communication law banning all unapproved, non-state media and prohibiting them from receiving international funding and foreign training.

Amanecer Habanero is a member of the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP), a network of six community media outlets, which has strongly condemned the actions of Cuban authorities against Figueredo, who became director of the outlet earlier this year.

In a statement, ICLEP said Figueredo has been the victim of an escalating campaign of intimidation by Cuban law enforcement, including verbal threats by state security agents; permanent police surveillance without a court order; restriction of her freedom of movement; psychological intimidation against her family; and police summonses without legal basis in connection with her work denouncing government.

Cuba’s private media companies have come under increased threat from a new communication law banning all unapproved, non-state media and prohibiting them from receiving international funding and foreign training.

Cuban authorities did not immediately reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Live coverage of protests banned in Kenya, at least 2 journalists injured

CPJ Staff — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 18:24:24 +0000

Nairobi, June 25, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Kenyan authorities’ Wednesday ban on live coverage of deadly protests, in which at least two journalists were injured, and the shutdown of at least three broadcasters.

Protesters took to the streets in most of Kenya’s 47 counties to mark the one-year anniversary of anti-tax demonstrations, in which at least 60 people were killed.

Several people were killed in Wednesday’s violence.

“Restricting protest coverage sends a clear message that President William Ruto’s government is not committed to democratic values or the constitutional freedoms he has vowed to protect,” said CPJ Regional Director Angela Quintal. “Authorities must investigate attacks on journalists, ensuring accountability, rescind the ban on live coverage, and desist from further censorship.”

In a directive, reviewed by CPJ, the Communications Authority of Kenya ordered “all television and radio stations to stop any live coverage of the demonstrations” or face unspecified “regulatory action.” The information technology regulator cited constitutional provisions that prevent freedom of expression involving “propaganda for war” and “incitement to violence.”

Police and Authority officials then switched off the broadcast signal of several privately owned media houses, including NTV, K24, and KTN, which continued to share content online and on social media.

Civil society organizations including the Kenya Editors’ Guild challenged the ban, citing a November High Court ruling that the Authority did not have the constitutional mandate to set or enforce media standards.

Late Wednesday, the Law Society of Kenya secured High Court orders, reviewed by CPJ, directing broadcast signals to be restored immediately.

NTV reporter Ruth Sarmwei was treated in hospital after being hit on the leg by an unknown projectile while interviewing protestors in the city of Nakuru, Joseph Openda, chairperson of the Nakuru Journalists Association, told CPJ. Standard Media Group said its photojournalist David Gichuru was “struck by a stone hurled by a protestor” in the capital Nairobi.

CPJ’s requests for comment via email to the Communications Authority of Kenya and via messaging app to its director general David Mugonyi did not receive replies.

Police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga declined to comment by phone.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

CPJ, others call on Egypt to end transnational repression against exiled journalists

CPJ Staff — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 09:22:34 +0000

In a joint statement, led by the Committee to Protect Journalists, 25 press freedom and human rights organizations called on the Egyptian government to end its transnational repression campaign against exiled journalists, including investigative reporter Basma Mostafa, who currently lives in Germany. The statement also urged German authorities to ensure her safety and uphold international obligations to protect freedom of expression.

Mostafa has faced threats, surveillance, and online gender-based violence across several countries—including Germany, Switzerland, Kenya, and Lebanon—in connection with her reporting as documented by the UN Special Rapporteurs’ report (AL EGY 6/2024).

Egypt remains one of the world’s top perpetrators of transnational repression, employing tactics such as arresting journalists’ relatives, blocking exiled media outlets, targeting journalists with spyware, and denying consular services.

Read the full statement in English here and Arabic here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“Good Trouble Lives On” National Day of Action Builds on Momentum Against Authoritarianism, Fight for Civil Rights

Newswire Editor — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 20:04:05 +0000

On July 17, five years since the passing of civil rights hero Congressman John Lewis, communities nationwide are mobilizing for Good Trouble Lives On, a national day of action to speak out against the Trump administration’s brazen rollback of our civil rights.

Coined by Congressman John Lewis, “Good Trouble” is the action of coming together to take peaceful, non-violent action to challenge injustice and create meaningful change. Led by the Transformative Justice Coalition, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Black Voters Matter, and more, movement leaders are inviting folks across the country to “Make Good Trouble” on July 17 by hosting an event in their community.

Organizers hope to build on the momentum from the historic “No Kings” mass mobilization on June 14, the largest demonstration to take place in Trump’s second term with over 2,100 events spanning across all 50 states. We will take to the streets, courthouses and community spaces to carry forward his fight for justice, voting rights and dignity for all.

The Trump administration’s recent escalating authoritarian actions, attacks on DEI initiatives and voting rights and dismantling of government agencies have raised alarm bells for democracy advocates, and that’s why we’re mobilizing:

President Trump escalated immigration raids in Los Angeles, where reports showed immigrants being detained and deported without access to family or lawyers. Trump then ordered the National Guard and Marines to the city, leading to mass arrests—including peaceful protestors like SEIU California President David Huerta.
The Trump administration attempted to weaponize the Justice Department through an indictment of Representative LaMonica McIver (NJ-10), who was simply conducting an Congressional oversight visit of an ICE detention center.
- When Senator Alex Padilla (CA) asked a question at a Department of Homeland Security press conference, FBI agents tackled, handcuffed and pushed him to the ground.
- Trump’s ICE detained NYC Comptroller Brad Lander for asking to see a warrant at immigration court.
From House Republicans’ so-called “SAVE Act,” which would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, to Donald Trump’s attempted anti-voter Executive Order and attacks on the DOJ’s Voting Rights division, the Trump administration and his allies in Congress are determined to put up hurdles for millions of eligible Americans to cast their ballots.

This isn’t the government our founders envisioned, nor the democracy generations of Americans have fought to realize. As the Trump administration continues violating civil liberties and attacking fundamental freedoms, pro-democracy groups are staying vigilant. The power lies with the American people to unify and “Make Good Trouble.”

Good Trouble Lives On is led by Transformative Justice Coalition, Black Voters Matter, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Declaration for American Democracy Coalition, Mi Familia Acción and more.

For more information on Good Trouble Lives On, please visit https://goodtroubleliveson.org/.

MEDIA CONTACT: For media inquiries, please email media@goodtroubleliveson.org.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.

8 journalists given lengthy jail terms as Azerbaijan crushes free press

CPJ Staff — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 17:35:56 +0000

New York, June 23, 2025— Eight Azerbaijani journalists have received prison sentences ranging from 7 ½ to 15 years, as part of an ongoing series of media trials likely to obliterate independent reporting in the Caucasus nation.

In a closed-door trial on Monday, columnist and peace activist Bahruz Samadov was sentenced by a court in the capital Baku to 15 years in prison for treason, after going on a hunger strike and attempting suicide the previous week.

On Friday, six journalists from Abzas Media, widely regarded as Azerbaijan’s most prominent anticorruption investigative outlet, were found guilty of acting as an organized group to commit multiple financial crimes, including currency smuggling, money laundering, and tax evasion, linked to alleged receipt of illegal Western donor funding:

director Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifgizi (Abbasova), journalist Hafiz Babali – sentenced to 9 years
reporters Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova – sentenced to 8 years
project coordinator Mahammad Kekalov – sentenced to 7 ½ years

In addition, journalist Farid Mehralizada from U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Azerbaijani service received a 9-year sentence as part of the same trial.

“The heavy sentences meted out to seven journalists in the Abzas Media case and to columnist Bahruz Samadov signal Azerbaijani authorities’ intent to wipe out what remains of independent coverage,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Reports that Samadov has attempted suicide are particularly concerning. Authorities should ensure Samadov’s wellbeing and immediately release all wrongly jailed journalists.”

Abzas Media told CPJ in a statement that the charges against their staff were “absurd and fabricated” and their “only ‘offense’ was exposing corruption, abuse of power, and informing the public of inconvenient truths.”

RFE/RL condemned Mehralizada’s sentence as a “sham” and “unnecessarily cruel.”

Treason case shrouded in secrecy

More than 20 leading Azerbaijani journalists have been jailed on charges of receiving funds from Western donors since late 2023, amid a decline in relations with the West and a surge in authoritarianism following Azerbaijan’s recapture of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, ending decades of separatist Armenian rule.

Azerbaijan was the world’s 10th worst jailer with 13 journalists behind bars in CPJ’s latest annual prison census on December 1, 2024.

Full details of the charges against Samadov, who contributes to Georgia-based OC Media and U.S.-based Eurasianet and was detained by state security officers while visiting his family in Azerbaijan in 2024, have not been made public. Authorities classified as secret the case against Samadov, a prominent advocate for peace with neighboring Armenia and a doctoral student in the Czech Republic.

Pro-government media, which receive regular “recommendations” from authorities on what to publish, have denounced Samadov for writing “subversive” articles for the “anti-Azerbaijan” Eurasianet. His reporting, reviewed by CPJ, focuses on growing Azerbaijani militarism and authoritarianism.

‘Absurd’ charges in reprisal for corruption reporting

As the June 20 verdicts were read out, Abzas Media journalists turned their backs on the judges and held up posters of the outlet’s corruption investigations into senior officials, including the president’s family.

President Ilham Aliyev took over from his father in 2003 and won a fifth consecutive term in 2024.

Abzas Media continues to operate from exile.

Western-funded ‘spies’

Amid a major state media campaign against Western-funded “spies,” police raided Abzas Media’s office in November 2023 and said they found 40,000 euros (US$45,900), accusing U.S., French, and German embassies of funding the outlet illegally.

Police arrested the six journalists over the following three months. In 2024, Mehralizada was also detained, though he and Abzas Media denied that he worked for the outlet.

Azerbaijani law requires civil society groups to obtain state approval for foreign grants, which authorities accuse Abzas Media of failing to do.

Defense arguments, reviewed by CPJ, said that such an omission was punishable by fines, not criminal sanctions, and prosecutors did not provide evidence the journalists engaged in criminal activity. Rights advocates accuse Azerbaijan of routinely withholding permission for foreign grants and refusing to register organizations that seek them.

In February, Aziz Orujov, director of independent broadcaster Kanal 13, was sentenced to two years in prison on illegal construction charges. In December, Teymur Karimov, head of independent broadcaster Kanal 11 was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Five journalists from Toplum TV and 10 with Meydan TV face trial on similar foreign funding allegations.

Editor’s note: This text has been amended in the ninth paragraph to correct the number of journalists facing charges of receiving funds from Western donors.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

CPJ alarmed by Zambian bill proposing jail for unlicensed journalists

Lauren Wolfe — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 09:16:39 +0000

Nairobi, June 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday expressed alarm at a Zambian bill that could jail journalists who work without a license for up to five years if it were to become law, according to a draft reviewed by CPJ.

“We are deeply concerned about the lack of transparency in the legislative process surrounding the Zambia Institute of Journalism Bill, which would place alarmingly restrictive controls on the media,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. “We call on the government to ensure that this bill, which was publicly disavowed by President Hakainde Hichilema, does not become law.”

The bill would require journalists to obtain an annual license from a regulatory institute, which could be rescinded for misconduct; it has yet to be formally tabled in parliament. Those who impersonate journalists, work without a registration, or employ such individuals could face imprisonment of up to five years or fines of up to 200,000 Kwacha (US$8,000).

The justice ministry drafted the bill at the information ministry’s request, on behalf of the Media Liaison Committee, a media industry body, according to Modern Muyembe, media development director at the ministry of information. It was approved for legislative committee review in March.

The MLC’s acting chairperson, Felistus Chipako, did not respond to CPJ’s email requesting comment but was quoted by The Editor Zambia as saying that the bill sought to uphold professionalism and empower journalists.

Following an outcry from media rights and news organizations, Hichilema said he opposed the bill, saying it was not a government initiative, and that it risked undermining media independence.

Zambian media have been divided over regulation for many years. A similar bill was withdrawn in 2022 after a backlash. The High Court ruled in 1997 that compulsory registration was unconstitutional.

CPJ has recently expressed concern over the deterioration of press freedom in Zambia. In April, two cybersecurity laws giving the government broad surveillance powers were enacted amid concerns over Hichilema’s plans to amend the constitution ahead of next year’s elections.

Editor’s Note: Joan Chirwa, CPJ’s southern Africa researcher, is the founder of the Zambia Free Press Initiative, one of the organizations opposed to statutory media regulation.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Lauren Wolfe.

As Israel starves Gaza, Chicago Jewish activists starve themselves to force leaders to take action

Marc Steiner — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 20:42:01 +0000

On June 16, six members of Jewish Voice for Peace in Chicago—Ash Bohrer, Becca Lubow, Avey Rips, Seph Mozes, Audrey Gladson, and Benjamin Teller—began an indefinite hunger strike to demand an end to the genocide in Gaza, unconditional military aid for Israel, and the blockade of food and medical aid to the 2.3 million Palestinians now living amongst the rubble. In this urgent episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with two of the Chicago hunger strikers, Ash Bohrer and Avey Rips, about their act of protest and how far they’re willing to go to stop Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians.

Guests:

Ash Bohrer is a scholar-activist based in Chicago. Professionally, Bohrer is currently Assistant Professor of Gender and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. In addition to their academic work, Ash is deeply involved in social movements for intersectional and anti-capitalist liberation; at the moment, most of that work is centered at Jewish Voice for Peace.
Avey Rips is a graduate student in English at Northwestern University, where they were arrested for protecting students from the police last spring. They are the child of refugees who fled sectarian violence in Azerbaijan.

Additional resources:

Shane Burley, In These Times, “Chicago Jewish activists embark on indefinite hunger strike over Gaza”
Jewish Voice for Peace – Chicago website, Instagram, TikTok

Credits:

Producer: Rosette Sewali
Studio Production/Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

Transcript

CPJ, partners express alarm over detention of journalist Mario Guevara by US immigration authorities

Committee to Protect Journalists — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 19:42:25 +0000

The Committee to Protect Journalists led a coalition of local and national civil society and press freedom organizations Friday in a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expressing alarm about the detention of journalist Mario Guevara.

Guevara, an Emmy-winning, Spanish-language reporter who covers immigration on his “MGnews” Facebook page and other social media platforms, was arrested on June 14 while livestreaming a “No Kings” protest against the actions of the Trump administration in an Atlanta, Georgia suburb. According to video footage of his arrest, Guevara was wearing a press pass and clearly identified himself as a journalist to law enforcement.

Read the full letter here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

CPJ, partners call for an end to Georgia’s assault on media, repeal of new laws

CPJ Staff — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 18:38:37 +0000

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 23 other press freedom and journalist organizations on June 17 in condemning Georgia’s deepening restrictions on the media, including several repressive new laws, and calling on the international community to pressure the ruling Georgian Dream party to end its suppression of the independent press.

The statement warned that independent media in Georgia may only have months left before they are forced to close as outlets now require government approval for foreign grants, broadcasters face arbitrary fines, and journalists can be jailed for up to five years for violating the “foreign agent” law.

The group also called for the immediate release of prominent media manager Mzia Amaghlobeli, who has been in pre-trial detention since January and faces up to seven years in prison on charges widely perceived as retaliatory.

Read the full statement here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

CPJ urges Paramount’s Shari Redstone to reconsider CBS lawsuit settlement

CPJ Staff — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 14:09:00 +0000

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed serious concern about the potential implications of a settlement in the lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump and U.S. House Rep. Ronny Jackson against Paramount and CBS.

In a letter sent to Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone, CPJ emphasized that the lawsuit lacks merit and that CBS journalists acted lawfully and ethically. CPJ warned that the settlement could set a harmful precedent, signaling that political figures can pressure news organizations into altering or censoring editorial decisions, and threatening freedom of the press in the U.S. and around the world.

Read the letter here:

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Japan is finally taking action to protect athletes from abuse

Human Rights Watch — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 07:47:28 +0000

This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

Spanish-language journalist arrested in Atlanta while covering protest, facing possible deportation

CPJ Staff — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:20:30 +0000

Washington, D.C., June 17, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by news reports of the ongoing detention and possible deportation of Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara, who was arrested June 14 while covering a “No Kings” protest against the actions of the Trump administration in an Atlanta, Georgia suburb.

CPJ wrote a letter to DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Lorraine Cochran-Johnson requesting that charges against Guevara be dropped and has not immediately received a reply from the office.

“We are deeply concerned by the ongoing detention of Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara by authorities in DeKalb County, Georgia. He must be released immediately and the charges against him dropped,” said CPJ U.S., Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “Guevara was doing his job and reporting the news at the time of his arrest. It is alarming that the charges he is now facing could be a pretext to begin deportation proceedings against him.”

Guevara, an Emmy-winning reporter who covers immigration on his “MGnews” Facebook page, and other social media platforms was livestreaming the protest in the Embry Hills neighborhood northwest of Atlanta when he was detained by police. At the time of his arrest, Guevara was wearing a press pass and clearly identified himself as a journalist to law enforcement, according to video footage of his arrest.

Originally from El Salvador, Guevara has work authorization in the United States and has been in the process of obtaining a green card through his son, who is a U.S. citizen.

Guevara was charged with improperly entering a roadway; obstruction of law enforcement officers; and unlawful assembly, according to reports. During a court appearance yesterday, a judge granted Guevara bond. However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a “detainer” against the journalist, which often precedes the deportation process, his lawyer, Giovanni Díaz, told reporters.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Twyford condemns weak action by NZ over Israel’s ‘ruthless’ apartheid

APR editor — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 07:59:51 +0000

Asia Pacific Report

Labour MP for Te Atatu Phil Twyford criticsed the New Zealand government today for failing to take stronger action against Israel over its genocide and starvation strategy in Gaza, saying that at the very least the ambassador should be expelled.

Speaking at a rally in Henderson organised by the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa in West Auckland suburbs for the first time in the 88th week of protest, Twyford said: “The Israeli government is operating in an apartheid state.

“They subject the Palestinian people under their military.

“People who are under international law they are obliged to protect,” he told about 500 protesters.

“They are subjecting them to the most ruthless, most brutal system of apartheid.”

It was a story of “ethnic cleansing, dispossesion, terror routinely visited upon Palestinian people on a daily basis in their land”, said Twyford, who is Labour Party spokesperson on immigration, disarmament and foreign affairs.

“And it is being done, not only by the forces of Zionism, but by the Western world complicit, knowing, understanding and actively conniving in that dispossession and repression.”

Widely condemned move
Twyford referred to the government’s move this week alongside four other countries to impose sanctions on two far-right ministers in the the Israeli cabinet, illegal settlers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, which has been widely condemned as too little and too late.

Labour MP Phil Twyford speaking at the Henderson pro-Palestinian humanitarian rally today . . . Palestinians are subjected by Israel to “the most ruthless, most brutal, system of apartheid.” Image: Asia Pacific Report

Leading British journalist Jonathan Cook this week criticised Britain, Australia, Canada and Norway along with New Zealand, saying they may have been “seeking strength in numbers” to withstand retaliation from Israel and the United States.

“But in truth, they have selected the most limited and symbolic of all the possible sanctions they could have imposed on the Israeli government.”

Israel was also condemned by speakers at the rally for its “unprovoked attack” on Iran and its strategy of forced starvation on the Palestinian people in Gaza and the repression in occupied West Bank.

The death toll in Gaza was almost 62,000 Palestinians — more than 17,000 of them children — and Israel had also killed at least 78 people in the first waves of attacks on Iran.

Meanwhile, in a statement today, the PSNA said it was appalled at the deportation of a Palestinian New Zealander from Egypt.

PSNA said it had conveyed to the Egyptian government its “shock and anger” at the deportation of Rana Hamida who had travelled to Egypt to take part in the Global March to Gaza.

“This Jew stands for Palestine” and “Sanction Israel now” placards at today’s Henderson rally. Image: APR

Egyptian deportations over ‘global march’
Egyptian authorities have deported dozens of people, including Spanish, Swedish, Finnish, Moroccan, Greek and US citizens.

The Global March to Gaza is due to start this weekend in Egypt with thousands of people from throughout the world taking part.

PSNA co-chair John Minto said the march was to “express humanity’s outrage” at the ongoing Gaza-wide bombing and starving of the Palestinian population by Israel.

“Egypt’s action in deporting activists can only be seen as assisting Israel’s attacks against the Palestinian population,” he said.

“Unfortunately, Egypt has a long history of collaboration with the US and Israel to stifle the Palestine liberation struggle. This is in sharp contrast to the Egyptian people who are as appalled and angry as the rest of humanity at Israel’s horrendous war crimes.”

Minto said the following message from Rana as she returned to New Zealand — she was due at Auckland International Airport this afternoon:

‘The more we will roar’
“The Egyptian authorities, along with other governments, think that blocking humanity from this act of solidarity will stop because of them blocking people from being there and doing the job that they continue failing to do.

“They are so mistaken — the more complicit and enabling they get in their inaction and in this case their active participation, the more we will rise, and roar.

“We are escalating as you awaken the dragons within us.

“We will sing louder and we will walk longer — with our hiking shoes in the Sinai desert, or barefoot towards your embassies.

“We will disrupt your meetings, we will crowd your phone with calls and emails, and we will be the light that blinds your robotic heart and melts it alongside the lies you stand for.

“This is not about us, it is about HUMANITY within us that is dying and being oppressed in various forms, it is about the humans enduring hell in Gaza, West Bank and Falastine as a whole.

“Muslims, Jews and Christians together.

“It is about NEVER AGAIN.

“Boycott, divest — we will not stop we will not rest.”

Pro-Palestinian and anti-genocide protesters at the Henderson rally today with Te Atatu MP Phil Twyford speaking. Image: APR

Expel Israeli ambassador call
In an earlier statement in the wake of Israel’s attack on Iran, PSNA called on the government to immediately expel the Israeli ambassador from New Zealand.

Minto said Israel’s strikes on Iran were “unprovoked, unilateral and a massive threat to humanity everywhere”.

“This is such a dangerous action, that diplomatic weasel words about Israel are not acceptable. Israel is an out-of-control rogue state playing with the future of humanity. We must send it the strongest possible message.”

“Israel’s using its often repeated lies and misinformation to attempt to justify it’s unconscionable violence and aggression.”

Minto pointed to Iran’s right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes.

“Even US intelligence officials have made is clear very recently that Iran is NOT on the way to produce a nuclear weapon.”

“And neither is Iran committed to the ‘annihilation’ of Israel.

‘Liberation for Palestine’
“Iran does not support Israel as a racist, apartheid state and wants to see liberation for Palestine.

“In this, Iran has, along with the overwhelming majority of countries in the world, called for an end to Israel’s military occupation of Palestine, the end of its apartheid policies directed against Palestinians and the return of Palestinian refugees.”

New Zealand had the same policies, Minto said.

However, he condemned NZ’s “appeasement of this apartheid state, as our government and other Western countries have done over 20 months”.

A “Save the world from evil Zionism” placard at the Henderson rally today. Image: APR

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Twyford condemns weak action by NZ over Israel’s ‘ruthless’ apartheid

APR editor — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 07:30:14 +0000

Asia Pacific Report

Labour MP for Te Atatu Phil Twyford criticised the New Zealand government today for failing to take stronger action against Israel over its genocide and starvation strategy in Gaza, saying that NZ should implement comprehensive sanctions and recognise Palestine.