The Chinese team members and support staff confronted the eight activists who were seated close to them during Saturday’s friendly international match at the Allianz stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota, that the U.S. won 3-0.

The activists, dressed in white T-shirts, had been shouting slogans and holding up white banners that read “Free Tibet” during the second half of the game.

(Tenzin Shakya/RTYC-MN)

Members of the Chinese team sought their removal from the stands, and the activists were asked to leave the stadium by security guards. That prompted boos from other spectators who shouted, “Let them stay!” and chanted “Free speech!”

Soon after, stadium officials allowed the activists to return to their seats but confiscated their white banners. The activists watched the rest of the game holding up the Tibetan national flag that is banned by China inside Tibet. They also still wore their “Free Tibet” T-shirts.

(Tenzin Shakya/RTYC-MN)

“The biggest takeaway (from this campaign) is that if Tibetans stand up, raise our voices, and take action for our own cause, then the people of the world automatically rise up in support,” one of the protesters, Tenzin Palsang, told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.

“China doesn’t just play soccer. They also play games with human rights,” said Palsang, who is president of the Minnesota chapter of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress.

She cited harsh conditions inside Tibet, where she said children are suffering “colonial boarding school policies,” referring to the Chinese government-run schools where Tibetan children, aged 6-17, have reportedly been held in “prison-like” conditions and forced to study a Mandarin-heavy curriculum that promotes party loyalty or a state-approved “patriotic education.”

(Tenzin Shakya/RTYC-MN)

According to Freedom House’s annual 2025 Freedom in the World report, Tibet was given a score of 0, based on an analysis of political and civil freedoms, making it one of the least-free places in the world. China annexed Tibet in 1950 and has since governed the territory with an oppressively heavy-hand while seeking to erase Tibetan culture and identity.

Beijing denies it represses Tibet or seeks to erase its cultural traditions, instead pointing to economic development in the region as evidence of its positive impacts on the population of about 6 million Tibetans.

Edited by Mat Pennington.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan.

Indian social media users have shared the video with the caption, “Guess which state”, obliquely implying that the clip is from West Bengal. Among them is the X handle of propaganda account Kreately Media. (Archived link)

Guess the state pic.twitter.com/lfxkBTYTZQ

— Kreately.in (@KreatelyMedia) May 24, 2025

Quote-tweeting this post, a number of users directly claimed that the visuals were from West Bengal. One user also suggested that they could tell this was West Bengal without even opening the video. (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3)

Right-wing user Amitabh Chaudhary, who shares disinformation and propaganda on a regular basis, also posted this clip with the same caption of ‘Guess the state’. In comments, users have made filthy remarks targeting women of West Bengal. (Archived link)

X user @satyaagrahindia also promoted this video. (Archived version)

Fact Check

Alt News performed a reverse image search using frames taken from the video on YouTube. We discovered that Bangladeshi news channel ‘Voice24NEWS’ had posted this video on May 17, 2025. The words ‘নারীর ডাকে মৈত্রী যাত্রা’ (Friendship March convened by Women) are embedded on the clip. The caption also says the same. 

The march was held along Manik Mia Avenue in Dhaka, a major thoroughfare on the south boundary of the national parliament house Complex. Several media reports covered the event held on May 16 of this year to demand equality for women. (Link 1, Link 2)

Here is a screengrab from BBC Bangla’s video report covering the march:

Bangladeshi newspaper ‘আজকের প্রতিদিন’ also posted a video about the initiative on Facebook. This video report also contains the video clip in question.

To sum up, social media users falsely claimed that a clip of a demonstration led by women in Bangladesh was from West Bengal, India.

The post Dhaka women’s ‘friendship march’ video falsely shared as West Bengal, inviting filthy comments appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Kinjal.

Indian social media users have shared the video with the caption, “Guess which state”, obliquely implying that the clip is from West Bengal. Among them is the X handle of propaganda account Kreately Media. (Archived link)

Guess the state pic.twitter.com/lfxkBTYTZQ

— Kreately.in (@KreatelyMedia) May 24, 2025

Quote-tweeting this post, a number of users directly claimed that the visuals were from West Bengal. One user also suggested that they could tell this was West Bengal without even opening the video. (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3)

Right-wing user Amitabh Chaudhary, who shares disinformation and propaganda on a regular basis, also posted this clip with the same caption of ‘Guess the state’. In comments, users have made filthy remarks targeting women of West Bengal. (Archived link)

X user @satyaagrahindia also promoted this video. (Archived version)

Fact Check

Alt News performed a reverse image search using frames taken from the video on YouTube. We discovered that Bangladeshi news channel ‘Voice24NEWS’ had posted this video on May 17, 2025. The words ‘নারীর ডাকে মৈত্রী যাত্রা’ (Friendship March convened by Women) are embedded on the clip. The caption also says the same. 

The march was held along Manik Mia Avenue in Dhaka, a major thoroughfare on the south boundary of the national parliament house Complex. Several media reports covered the event held on May 16 of this year to demand equality for women. (Link 1, Link 2)

Here is a screengrab from BBC Bangla’s video report covering the march:

Bangladeshi newspaper ‘আজকের প্রতিদিন’ also posted a video about the initiative on Facebook. This video report also contains the video clip in question.

To sum up, social media users falsely claimed that a clip of a demonstration led by women in Bangladesh was from West Bengal, India.

The post Dhaka women’s ‘friendship march’ video falsely shared as West Bengal, inviting filthy comments appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Kinjal.

Mothers’ Day is rarely more than the draw and pull of extracted business and mined guilt. This is the worshipped and leveraged, the human breeder elevated and remembered, if only for one day. It resembles, in some ways, the link between poverty and the church box of charity. Give a few coins and save the child. Your conscience can rest easy.

The day itself denigrates the mother in false respect and guilts the family for ignorance of that fact. It sanctifies a family relation for reasons of commercial worth. Suddenly, Mummy escapes her metaphorical sarcophagus, the nursing home, the flat, and finds herself seated at the end of a table with regrets. The hideous spectacle follows. The grumbling, the sneers. Mummy wonders what she is doing there. Monument? Reminder? A disgusting reminder to die off? Thoughts turn to the will.

It was not necessarily intended that way. In the aftermath of the American Civil War (1861-65), Julia Ward Howe, author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, proposed that women unite in common cause and promote peace. In time, it would become the Mother’s Day Proclamation. In 1908, the idea became more concrete with West Virginian Anna Marie Jarvis’s church memorial in honour of her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis.  Ann Jarvis had been a committed peace activist, aiding wounded soldiers during the Civil War.

On May 9, 1914, US President Woodrow Wilson officially announced the establishment of Mother’s Day as a national observance to be held annually on the second Sunday of May. Such observance was to involve the display of the American flag on government buildings and private residences “as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.”

Mother’s Day in Australia only took off with Sydney’s Janet Heyden, who insisted in 1924 on remembering the aging mothers at Newington State Hospital, many of whom had been widowed by the calamitous slaughter of the First World War.  As an activist, she encouraged local schools and businesses to furnish the ladies with donated gifts.  In its more modern iteration, it has evolved into a family affair.  As Australian historian Richard Waterhouse benignly describes it, “It’s not just about recognising the role of mothers, though that’s still there, but it’s really recognising Mother’s Day as a day in which families can get together.”

As with other days of elected memory, Mother’s Day draws in the retail and restaurant dollars.  Guilty emotions are easy fodder for the capitalist impulse.  Unremarkably, it was the United States that propelled its commercialisation, beginning with card companies like Hallmark and enterprising florists keen to make a profit.  Jarvis, so instrumental in establishing the tradition, took to loathing it, attacking such marketing gimmicks as “Mother’s Day Salad”.  For years, she harangued politicians, organised protests, and sought audiences with presidents to arrest the trend towards commodification.  Such efforts eventually exhausted her, leading to a lonely, poor death in a sanatorium.

Even as the Second World War raged, the scope of merchandise in anticipation of the day burgeoned.  An April 1941 issue of New York’s Women’s Wear Daily notes how “Mother’s Day as a gift event has continued to grow in importance, and is now second only to Christmas”.  In Dallas, one Margaret Evans, promotion manager of A. Harris & Co., enthused at the growing number of departments offering gift choices for the occasion.  These included bags, gloves, hosiery, handkerchiefs, toiletries, and jewellery.

Eventually, women’s libbers cottoned on to the idea that a commemorative occasion supposedly emphasising the importance of mothers had been hijacked and shamelessly exploited.  In 1971, a pamphlet issued by the Adelaide women’s liberationists suggested that the woman remained invisible, a chained martyr to the home, a slave to domestic chores, and the cult of domesticity.  Mother’s Day was that one occasion of the year that a woman’s invaluable role in the home was acknowledged, and even then, only imperfectly.  Such a mother’s “basic needs”, including a degree of independence from their children, remained unmet.  But the pamphlet went further, arguing that women “renounce [their] martyrdom” and reenvisage themselves as human beings and “not just ‘mum’.”

The nexus with children was also a point of comment in that decade.  Radical feminist Shulamith Firestone’s The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution took solid aim at the distorting role played by parenting and mothering in the formation of children. Implicit in her argument was that both the mother and the child needed emancipation.  It remains a pertinent point, even as the swamp of commercialisation looks deeper than ever.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Binoy Kampmark.

In 2024, its national women’s teams surprised the global soccer community by winning both the FIFA under-17 and under-20 women’s World Cups.

Unlike their male counterparts, who haven’t prospered on the international stage since qualifying for the 1966 World Cup quarterfinals, the women’s team have fared much better, qualifying for the Women’s World Cup four times and reaching the quarterfinals in 2007.

Offering a rare glimpse into their training regimen and communist North Korea’s cloistered elite sports infrastructure, SNTV -- a global sports video agency jointly operated by The Associated Press and IMG – released a report this week including interviews with players and coaches and footage of training sessions.

It featured players from the elite Amnokgang Sports Club, including core members of the national team, such as Jeon Il-cheong, who was named most valuable player at the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. She expressed determination to build on their success.

“What we achieved last year is only the beginning,” Jeon told SNTV. “We will not rest. We are running hard on the training ground to win future international competitions.”

(KCNA via Reuters)

Much of the soccer talent originates from the Pyongyang International Football School, an elite youth development facility that combines academic education with intensive athletic training. According to school director Kim Gwang-chol, the school admits students with both academic aptitude and athletic potential from across the country.

“We provide a dual education system that includes general secondary education and specialized football training,” Kim told SNTV.

Graduates of the school often go on to play for top-tier domestic clubs like Amnokgang and April 25 Sports Club, eventually feeding into the national team.

But experts believe there’s more than simple pride in North Korea’s success on the soccer pitch behind the sudden display of openness to outside media.

Lee Hyun-seung, who defected from North Korea in 2014 and is now senior strategy adviser on North Korea at the U.S.-based Global Peace Foundation, told Radio Free Asia that the move is likely part of a broader propaganda strategy.

“North Korea can’t keep relying on outdated 1980s and 1990s strict propaganda tactics forever,” said Lee. “The regime’s propaganda arm seems to be shifting its strategy - using international achievements to promote the superiority of the North Korean system to the outside world.”

He added that internally, this success is also framed in ideological terms: as the result of the “grace and care” of the supreme leader, Kim Jong Un.

(Ricardo Mazalan/AP)

Cho Han-bum, a senior research fellow at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, told South Korea’s Segye Ilbo that North Korea was using sporting achievements to “consolidate the system, as it faces economic difficulties and lacks other accomplishments to promote.”

Jean Lee, presidential chair at the U.S.-based think tank, the East-West Center, said the SNTV footage provides an interesting glimpse into the “sports regimen and machinery in North Korea” and hints that North Korea is ready to start opening up.

“This type of propaganda is meant to inspire as well as show off an industry - sports - that the North Koreans are immensely proud of and invest quite a bit in. Sports are a relatively low-cost way to generate international recognition, and sporting competitions are one arena where North Koreans are welcome abroad,” said Lee, former Seoul and Pyongyang bureau chief for The Associated Press.

But she added that watching the video also gives a sense of the kind of pressure that the young women soccer players are under.

“They train from a young age to serve their country as athletes. They are truly talented, and it’s heartwarming to see their dedication, but I can’t help but also feel that the pressure to excel is immense,” she told RFA.

Edited by Mat Pennington.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jaewoo Park for RFA Korean.

In 2024, its national women’s teams surprised the global soccer community by winning both the FIFA under-17 and under-20 women’s World Cups.

Unlike their male counterparts, who haven’t prospered on the international stage since qualifying for the 1966 World Cup quarterfinals, the women’s team have fared much better, qualifying for the Women’s World Cup four times and reaching the quarterfinals in 2007.

Offering a rare glimpse into their training regimen and communist North Korea’s cloistered elite sports infrastructure, SNTV -- a global sports video agency jointly operated by The Associated Press and IMG – released a report this week including interviews with players and coaches and footage of training sessions.

It featured players from the elite Amnokgang Sports Club, including core members of the national team, such as Jeon Il-cheong, who was named most valuable player at the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. She expressed determination to build on their success.

“What we achieved last year is only the beginning,” Jeon told SNTV. “We will not rest. We are running hard on the training ground to win future international competitions.”

(KCNA via Reuters)

Much of the soccer talent originates from the Pyongyang International Football School, an elite youth development facility that combines academic education with intensive athletic training. According to school director Kim Gwang-chol, the school admits students with both academic aptitude and athletic potential from across the country.

“We provide a dual education system that includes general secondary education and specialized football training,” Kim told SNTV.

Graduates of the school often go on to play for top-tier domestic clubs like Amnokgang and April 25 Sports Club, eventually feeding into the national team.

But experts believe there’s more than simple pride in North Korea’s success on the soccer pitch behind the sudden display of openness to outside media.

Lee Hyun-seung, who defected from North Korea in 2014 and is now senior strategy adviser on North Korea at the U.S.-based Global Peace Foundation, told Radio Free Asia that the move is likely part of a broader propaganda strategy.

“North Korea can’t keep relying on outdated 1980s and 1990s strict propaganda tactics forever,” said Lee. “The regime’s propaganda arm seems to be shifting its strategy - using international achievements to promote the superiority of the North Korean system to the outside world.”

He added that internally, this success is also framed in ideological terms: as the result of the “grace and care” of the supreme leader, Kim Jong Un.

(Ricardo Mazalan/AP)

Cho Han-bum, a senior research fellow at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, told South Korea’s Segye Ilbo that North Korea was using sporting achievements to “consolidate the system, as it faces economic difficulties and lacks other accomplishments to promote.”

Jean Lee, presidential chair at the U.S.-based think tank, the East-West Center, said the SNTV footage provides an interesting glimpse into the “sports regimen and machinery in North Korea” and hints that North Korea is ready to start opening up.

“This type of propaganda is meant to inspire as well as show off an industry - sports - that the North Koreans are immensely proud of and invest quite a bit in. Sports are a relatively low-cost way to generate international recognition, and sporting competitions are one arena where North Koreans are welcome abroad,” said Lee, former Seoul and Pyongyang bureau chief for The Associated Press.

But she added that watching the video also gives a sense of the kind of pressure that the young women soccer players are under.

“They train from a young age to serve their country as athletes. They are truly talented, and it’s heartwarming to see their dedication, but I can’t help but also feel that the pressure to excel is immense,” she told RFA.

Edited by Mat Pennington.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jaewoo Park for RFA Korean.

In 2024, its national women’s teams surprised the global soccer community by winning both the FIFA under-17 and under-20 women’s World Cups.

Unlike their male counterparts, who haven’t prospered on the international stage since qualifying for the 1966 World Cup quarterfinals, the women’s team have fared much better, qualifying for the Women’s World Cup four times and reaching the quarterfinals in 2007.

Offering a rare glimpse into their training regimen and communist North Korea’s cloistered elite sports infrastructure, SNTV -- a global sports video agency jointly operated by The Associated Press and IMG – released a report this week including interviews with players and coaches and footage of training sessions.

It featured players from the elite Amnokgang Sports Club, including core members of the national team, such as Jeon Il-cheong, who was named most valuable player at the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. She expressed determination to build on their success.

“What we achieved last year is only the beginning,” Jeon told SNTV. “We will not rest. We are running hard on the training ground to win future international competitions.”

(KCNA via Reuters)

Much of the soccer talent originates from the Pyongyang International Football School, an elite youth development facility that combines academic education with intensive athletic training. According to school director Kim Gwang-chol, the school admits students with both academic aptitude and athletic potential from across the country.

“We provide a dual education system that includes general secondary education and specialized football training,” Kim told SNTV.

Graduates of the school often go on to play for top-tier domestic clubs like Amnokgang and April 25 Sports Club, eventually feeding into the national team.

But experts believe there’s more than simple pride in North Korea’s success on the soccer pitch behind the sudden display of openness to outside media.

Lee Hyun-seung, who defected from North Korea in 2014 and is now senior strategy adviser on North Korea at the U.S.-based Global Peace Foundation, told Radio Free Asia that the move is likely part of a broader propaganda strategy.

“North Korea can’t keep relying on outdated 1980s and 1990s strict propaganda tactics forever,” said Lee. “The regime’s propaganda arm seems to be shifting its strategy - using international achievements to promote the superiority of the North Korean system to the outside world.”

He added that internally, this success is also framed in ideological terms: as the result of the “grace and care” of the supreme leader, Kim Jong Un.

(Ricardo Mazalan/AP)

Cho Han-bum, a senior research fellow at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, told South Korea’s Segye Ilbo that North Korea was using sporting achievements to “consolidate the system, as it faces economic difficulties and lacks other accomplishments to promote.”

Jean Lee, presidential chair at the U.S.-based think tank, the East-West Center, said the SNTV footage provides an interesting glimpse into the “sports regimen and machinery in North Korea” and hints that North Korea is ready to start opening up.

“This type of propaganda is meant to inspire as well as show off an industry - sports - that the North Koreans are immensely proud of and invest quite a bit in. Sports are a relatively low-cost way to generate international recognition, and sporting competitions are one arena where North Koreans are welcome abroad,” said Lee, former Seoul and Pyongyang bureau chief for The Associated Press.

But she added that watching the video also gives a sense of the kind of pressure that the young women soccer players are under.

“They train from a young age to serve their country as athletes. They are truly talented, and it’s heartwarming to see their dedication, but I can’t help but also feel that the pressure to excel is immense,” she told RFA.

Edited by Mat Pennington.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jaewoo Park for RFA Korean.

Despite calls from women’s groups urging the government to implement policies to address the underrepresentation of women in politics, the introduction of temporary special measures (TSM) to increase women’s political representation in Fiji remains a distant goal.

This week, leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa), Cabinet Minister Aseri Radrodro, and opposition MP Ketal Lal expressed their objection to reserving 30 percent of parliamentary seats for women.

Radrodro, who is also Education Minister, told The Fiji Times that Fijian women were “capable of holding their ground without needing a crutch like TSM to give them a leg up”.

• READ MORE: Pacific women in Parliament

Lal called the special allocation of seats for women in Parliament “tokenistic” and beneficial to “a few selected individuals”, as part of submissions to the Fiji Law Reform Commission and the Electoral Commission of Fiji, which are undertaking a comprehensive review and reform of the Fiji’s electoral framework.

Their sentiment is shared by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who said at a Pacific Technical Cooperation Session of the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in Suva earlier this month, that “putting in women for the sake of mere numbers” is “tokenistic”.

Rabuka said it devalued “the dignity of women at the highest level of national governance.”

“This specific issue makes me wonder at times. As the percentage of women in population is approximately the same as for men, why are women not securing the votes of women? Or more precisely, why aren’t women voting for women?” he said.

Doubled down
The Prime Minister doubled down on his position on the issue when The Fiji Times asked him if it was the right time for Fiji to legislate mandatory seats for women in Parliament as the issue was gaining traction.

“There is no need to legislate it. We do not have a compulsory voting legislation, nor do we yet need a quota-based system.

However, Rabuka’s Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Speaker Lenora Qereqeretabua holds a different view.

Qereqeretabua, from the National Federation Party, said in January that Parliament needed to look like the people that it represented.

“Women make up half of the world’s population, and yet we are still fighting to ensure that their voices and experiences are not only heard but valued in the spaces where decisions are made,” she told participants at the Exploring Temporary Special Measures for Inclusive Governance in Fiji forum.

She said Fiji needed more women in positions of power.

“Not because women are empirically better leaders, because leadership is not determined by gender, but because it is essential for democracy that our representatives reflect the communities that they serve.”

‘Shameless’ lag
Another member of Rabuka’s coalition government, one of the deputy prime ministers in and a former Sodelpa leader, Viliame Gavoka said in March 2022 that Fiji had “continued to shamelessly lag behind in protecting and promoting women’s rights and their peacebuilding expertise”.

He pledged at the time that if Sodelpa was voted into government, it would “ensure to break barriers and accelerate progress, including setting specific targets and timelines to achieve gender balance in all branches of government and at all levels through temporary special measures such as quotas . . . ”

However, since coming into power in December 2022, Gavoka has not made any advance on his promise, and his party leader Radrodro has made his views known on the issue.

Fijian women’s rights and advocacy groups say that introducing special measures for women is neither discriminatory nor a breach of the 2013 Constitution.

In a joint statement in October last year, six non-government organisations called on the government to enforce provisions for temporary special measures for women in political party representation and ensure that reserved seats are secured for women in all town and city councils and its committees.

“Nationally, it is unacceptable that after three national elections under new electoral laws, there has been a drastic decline in women’s representation from contesting national elections to being elected to parliament,” they said.

“It is clear from our history that cultural, social, economic and political factors have often stood in the way of women’s political empowerment.”

Short-term need
They said temporary special measures may need to be implemented in the short-term to advance women’s equality.

“The term ‘temporary special measures’ is used to describe affirmative action policies and strategies to promote equality and empower women.

“If we are to move towards a society where half the population is reflected in all leadership spaces and opportunities, we must be gender responsive in the approaches we take to achieve gender equality.”

The Fijian Parliament currently has only five (out of 55) women in the House — four in government and one in opposition. In the previous parliamentary term (2018-2022), there were 10 women directly elected to Parliament.

According to the Fiji Country Gender Assessment report, 81 percent of Fijians believe that women are underrepresented in the government, and 72 percent of Fijians believe greater representation of women would be beneficial for the country.

However, the report found that time and energy burden of familial, volunteer responsibilities, patriarchal norms, and power relations as key barriers to women’s participation in the workplace and public life.

Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) board member Akanisi Nabalarua believes that despite having strong laws and policies on paper, the implementation is lacking.

Lip service
Nabalarua said successive Fijian governments had often paid lip service to gender equality while failing to make intentional and meaningful progress in women’s representation in decision making spaces, reports fijivillage.com.

Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry said Rabuka’s dismissal of the women’s rights groups’ plea was premature.

Chaudhry, a former prime minister who was deposed in a coup in 2000, said Rabuka should have waited for the Law Reform Commission’s report “before deciding so conclusively on the matter”.

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.

The post To Honor Women’s History Month, Let Us Now Praise Famous Female Antiwar Activists appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ed Rampell.

Women, more than men, prepare and sustain people at the beginning of their lives and afterwards. Their work involves the birthing, nurturing, feeding, teaching and sheltering of children; service in education and healthcare; and care provided to the sick, disabled, and elderly.

Women taking on these tasks may be vulnerable; the goods, materials, and support systems relied upon for social reproduction may disappear as the result of unstable external circumstances. Disruption leads to added burdens, troubles, and pain.

Meanwhile, women endowed with educational, financial, and political resources are better positioned to weather such storms than those whose lives are precarious.

The object here is to survey women’s oppression in well-endowed, industrialized societies typified by the United States and in far-flung regions dependent on, and yet resisting, the world’s economic centers. Women living in peripheral regions may face oppression that is more severe and different in kind than that experienced by women living in the developed countries.

Our plan is to present commentary in response to International Women’s Day on general aspects of women’s oppression and then to introduce the views of prominent feminist scholar Silvia Federici on dangers disturbing the lives of women worldwide.

Two clarifications are necessary.  First, men can and do perform most of the tasks that make up social reproduction. But often they fall short, and until they are doing more, women are at special risk. As social reproducers, women receive either no pay or reduced pay. In wars and other calamitous situations ─ Gaza is emblematic ─ women and their children suffer and die disproportionally.

Secondly, this report does not deal with male violence against women. Rather, it attempts to shed light on political and economic factors contributing to women’s oppression, this by way of preparation for political action.

Undoubtedly, much male violence stems from psychological aberrations. These may aggravate adverse societal influences affecting men and boys. Our understanding of such processes is not so full, nor so available, as to provide confidence that this major problem will be resolved soon. For optimists at least, the political approach offers promise.

Repression from all sides

Remarkably enough, reports and statements appearing recently in connection with International Women’s Day, and consulted here, are silent on social-class differences as contributing to women’s oppression. Information is presented so haphazardly as to impede reasoning that might reveal class-based dynamics.

The gist of an Amnesty International statement is the complaint that, “Despite significant progress … the world has failed to fully deliver on all the promises. From rape and femicide to coercion, control and assaults on our reproductive rights, violence against women and girls still threatens their safety, happiness and very existence in a multitude of ways.”

The UN-Women organization issued a report marking the 30^th anniversary of the 1995 gathering for women’s rights that produced the “Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.” The Report documents both gains and continuing assaults. With much attention paid to the industrialized countries, it does mention wars, climate-change effects, and poverty affecting women’s lives everywhere.

We learn that, “countries have enacted 1,531 legal reforms advancing gender equality, maternal mortality has dropped by a third and women’s representation in parliaments has more than doubled.”

The Report speaks of “backlash on gender equality” and “weakening of democratic institutions.” It provides scattershot observations such as: conflict-related sexual violence increasing 50% in three years, women being three times more likely to do unpaid work than men, and sexual violence afflicting one third of women during their lifetime.

The Pew Research Center reported on March 4 that information conveyed a year ago is still relevant. The Center had indicated that women made up 47% of U.S. workers, up 30% since 1950; more women than men are college-educated; one third of U.S. workers in the highest paid industries are women; and “Women still lag in top leadership positions in business and government.”

The information seemingly pertains to the lives of politically-attuned women belonging to the middle and upper classes and not so much to the lives of poor, marginalized women.

Anyone expecting the U.S. Census Bureau to supply statistical data arranged according to social class would be disappointed. The Bureau did report poverty rates of women and men in 2023 as 11.9% and 10.2%, respectively. Child poverty that year was 15.3% ─ 16%according to the Annie E Casey Foundation.  But would mothers be less likely than their children to be living in poverty?

According to americanprogress.org, the earning gap between all fulltime male and female U.S. workers widened in 2023; women’s median annual income ended up $11,550 lower than that for men. Also: the male-female gap is greater among parttime workers and “[t]he gender wage gap is significantly larger for most women of color.”

Farther afield

The danger capitalism presents to women’s lives shows dramatically in the larger world, especially as capitalism’s wars and economic sanctions ─ think Cuba ─ aggravate the toll of economic deprivation.

Turning Point magazine provides some perspective:

As we navigate the uncertainties of 2025, women’s rights … face an unprecedented assault … Patriarchy does not exist in isolation. It intersects with and reinforces other systems of oppression, including: capitalism, racism, and colonialism. The economic dimension is particularly stark with at least 400 million women and girls abandoned to extreme poverty by predominantly male policymakers. By 2030, 8% of women globally are expected to subsist on less than $2.15 per day. The exploitation of women’s unpaid labor is a cornerstone of the global economy; underscoring the inseparability of patriarchy and capitalism.

Highlighting the disaster for women that is war, Silvia Federici explores its capitalist origins. Excerpts from her 2023 essay “War, reproduction, and feminist struggles follow:

It is fundamental to speak today of war because it has become a permanent element of capitalist politics at the international level. That there are wars today in a large part of the planet is no accident … [Wars are] a fundamental part of capitalist development, of the expansion of capitalist relations in the world …

[Ours is] an era that begins with the debt crisis, which has been artificially created and which has affected a large part of the countries that were coming out of colonialism … [T]hey have been recolonized, above all through the policies of the World Bank, and of the International Monetary Fund whose structure in itself represents war; it practically forced the governments of the indebted countries to destroy and cut all investment in social reproduction. It has cut education, health, public transport, basic necessities, mass employment, and above all has forced them to change the direction of their economies … This means great impoverishment, and increased mortality.

We women speak from the perspective of the reproduction of daily, social life, the very reproduction war seeks to destroy. So, despite the fact that men make up armies, women are the ones who experience the most devastating effects of war in their bodies, in their lives, in their communities; they have children, are pregnant, and take care of the sick and the elderly. One cannot conceptualize this: the horror of having the responsibility of reproducing life at a time when everything that happens around you is destroying your life. That’s why I think a feminist reading of war is important.

In November 2024, Federici commented on war in Gaza:

At a time of increasing capitalist crisis and inter-capitalist competition, development requires massive clearances, enclosures, the sacking of entire regions, as well as a policy tending to constantly reduce investment in social reproduction, benefits and wages …

The war Israelis carry out in Palestine is especially cruel for women who are responsible for the reproduction of their communities and now are left with nothing – no homes, no food, no means to reproduce, care for and protect their children and their families. …

Evidence has been mounting that capitalist development requires a true war on the means and activities people need to reproduce their lives. Whether by financial interventions or military operations or, more commonly by both, millions are dispossessed from their homes, their lands, their countries, as their lands are being privatized, opened to new investments and extractive ventures by petroleum, mining, agribusiness companies. This is why today, throughout the world, there are massive migratory movements.

The author translated Federici’s 2023 article.

The post Connecting Women’s Oppression, Capitalism, and Wars appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by W. T. Whitney.

Pacific delegates have been left “shocked” by the omission of sexual and reproductive health rights from the key declaration of the 69th UN Commission on the Status of Women meeting in New York.

This year CSW69 will review and assess the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration, the UN’s blueprint for gender equality and rights for women and girls.

The meeting’s political declaration adopted on Tuesday reaffirmed the UN member states’ commitment to the rights, equality and empowerment of all women and girls.

• READ MORE: Other women’s rights reports

It was the product of a month of closed-door negotiations during which a small number of countries, reportedly including the U.S. and Russia, were accused of diluting the declaration’s final text.

The Beijing Declaration three decades ago mentioned reproductive rights 50 times, unlike this year’s eight-page political declaration.

“It is shocking. Thirty years after Beijing, not one mention of sexual and reproductive health and rights,” Pacific delegate and women’s advocate Noelene Nabulivou from Fiji told BenarNews.

“The core of gender justice and human rights lies in the ability to make substantive decisions over one’s body, health and sexual decision making.

“We knew that in 1995, we know it now, we will not let anyone take SRHR away, we are not going back.”

Common sentiment
It is a common sentiment among the about 100 Pacific participants at the largest annual gathering on women’s rights that attracts thousands of delegates from around the world.

“This is a major omission, especially given the current conditions in several (Pacific) states and the wider pushback and regression on women’s human rights,” Fiji-based DIVA for Equality representative Viva Tatawaqa told BenarNews from New YorK.

Tatawaqa said that SRHR was included in the second version of the political declaration but was later removed due to “lack of consensus” and “trade-offs in language.”

“We will not let everyone ignore this omission, whatever reason was given for the trade-off,” she said.

The Pacific Community’s latest survey of SRHR in the region reported progress had been made but significant challenges remain.

It highlighted an urgent need to address extreme rates of gender-based violence, low contraceptive use (below 50% in the region), lack of confidentiality in health services and hyperendemic levels of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which all fall under the SRHR banner.

Ten Pacific Island countries submitted detailed Beijing+30 National Reports to CSW69.

Anti-abortion alliance
Opposition to SRHR has come from 39 countries through their membership of the anti-abortion Geneva Consensus Declaration, an alliance founded in 2020. Their ranks include this year’s CSW69 chair Saudi Arabia, Russia, Hungary, Egypt, Kenya, Indonesia and the U.S. under both Trump administrations, along with predominantly African and Middle East countries.

“During negotiations, certain states including the USA and Argentina, attempted to challenge even the most basic and accepted terms around gender and gender equality,” Amnesty said in a statement after the declaration.

“The text comes amid mounting threats to sexual and reproductive rights, including increased efforts, led by conservative groups, to roll back on access to contraception, abortion, comprehensive sexuality education, and gender-affirming care across the world,” adding the termination of USAID had compounded the situation.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) confirmed in February that the US, the UN’s biggest donor, had cut US$377 million in funding for reproductive and sexual health programmes and warned of “devastating impacts.”

Since coming to office, President Donald Trump has also reinstated the Global Gag Rule, prohibiting foreign recipients of U.S. aid from providing or discussing abortions.

In his opening address to the CSW69, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued a dire warning on progress on gender equality across the world.

‘Poison of patriachy’
“The poison of patriarchy is back, and it is back with a vengeance, slamming the brakes on action, tearing up progress, and mutating into new and dangerous forms,” he said, without singling out any countries or individuals.

“The masters of misogyny are gaining strength,” Guterres said, denouncing the “bile” women faced online.

He warned at the current rate it would take 137 years to lift all women out of poverty, calling on all nations to commit to the “promise of Beijing”.

The CSW was established days after the inaugural UN meetings in 1946, with a focus on prioritising women’s political, economic and social rights.

CSW was instrumental in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Beijing Declaration.

One of the declaration’s stated goals is to “enhance women’s sexual and reproductive health and education”, the absence of which would have “a profound impact on women and men.”

The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action identified 12 key areas needing urgent attention — including poverty, education, health, violence — and laid out pathways to achieve change, while noting it would take substantial resources and financing.

This year’s political declaration came just days after International Women’s Day, when UN Pacific released a joint statement singled out rises in adolescent birth rates and child marriage, exacerbating challenges related to health, education, and long-term well-being of women in the region.

Gender-based violence
It also identified the region has among the highest levels of gender-based violence and lowest rates of women’s political representation in the world.

A comparison of CSW59 in 2015 and the CSW69 political declaration reveal that many of the same challenges, language, and concerns persist.

Guterres in his address offered “antidote is action” to address the immense gaps.

Pacific Women Mediators Network coordinator Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls told BenarNews much of that action in the Pacific had been led by women.

“The inclusion of climate justice and the women, peace, and security agenda in the Beijing+30 Action Plan is a reminder of the intersectional and intergenerational work that has continued,” she said.

“This work has been forged through women-led networks and coalitions like the Pacific Women Mediators Network and the Pacific Island Feminist Alliance for Climate Justice, which align with the Blue Pacific Strategy and the Revitalised Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration.”

Republished from BenarNews with permission.

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

The post What To Us Is International Women’s Day? appeared first on Project Censored.

This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Kate Horgan.

More than 2000 people — mostly women and union members — marked International Women’s Day two days early last week on March 6 with a lively rally and march in Melbourne, capital of the Australian state of Victoria.

Chants of “Women united will never be defeated”, “Tell me what a feminist looks like? This is what a feminist looks like” and “When women’s rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight back!” rang through the streets.

Speakers addressed the inequality women still faced at work and in society, the leading roles women play in many struggles for justice, including for First Nations rights, against the junta in Myanmar, against Israel’s genocide in Gaza/Palestine, and against oppressive regimes like that in Iran.

• READ MORE: Luamanuvao reflects on International Women’s Day and ‘Pacific dreams’
• International Women’s Day activists protest in solidarity with Palestinians
• Other International Women’s Day reports

“Palestine is not for sale.”  Video: Green Left

When Michelle O’Neill, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) spoke, some women chanted “CFMEU” to demonstrate their displeasure at the ACTU’s complicity in attacks against that union.

The rally also marched to Victoria’s Parliament House.

Republished from Green Left.

in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, activists marked International Women’s Day on Saturday and the start of Ramadan this week with solidarity rallies across the country, calling for justice and peace for Palestinian women and the territories occupied illegally by Israel.

The theme this year for IWD was “For all women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment” and this was the 74th week of Palestinian solidarity protests.

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

More than 2000 people — mostly women and union members — marked International Women’s Day two days early last week on March 6 with a lively rally and march in Melbourne, capital of the Australian state of Victoria.

Chants of “Women united will never be defeated”, “Tell me what a feminist looks like? This is what a feminist looks like” and “When women’s rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight back!” rang through the streets.

Speakers addressed the inequality women still faced at work and in society, the leading roles women play in many struggles for justice, including for First Nations rights, against the junta in Myanmar, against Israel’s genocide in Gaza/Palestine, and against oppressive regimes like that in Iran.

• READ MORE: Luamanuvao reflects on International Women’s Day and ‘Pacific dreams’
• International Women’s Day activists protest in solidarity with Palestinians
• Other International Women’s Day reports

“Palestine is not for sale.”  Video: Green Left

When Michelle O’Neill, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) spoke, some women chanted “CFMEU” to demonstrate their displeasure at the ACTU’s complicity in attacks against that union.

The rally also marched to Victoria’s Parliament House.

Republished from Green Left.

in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, activists marked International Women’s Day on Saturday and the start of Ramadan this week with solidarity rallies across the country, calling for justice and peace for Palestinian women and the territories occupied illegally by Israel.

The theme this year for IWD was “For all women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment” and this was the 74th week of Palestinian solidarity protests.

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

International Women’s Day, March 8, is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women around the world.

Closer to home, here in Aotearoa New Zealand, we can take a moment to acknowledge Pasifika women, and in particular the contributions of Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban.

For her, “International Women’s day is an opportunity to acknowledge Pasifika women’s contribution to economic, social, and cultural development in New Zealand and our Pacific region.”

• READ MORE:  International Women’s Day activists protest in solidarity with Palestinians
• Other International Women’s Day reports

Luamanuvao has a significant string of “firsts” in her resume, including becoming the first Pasifika woman to be elected to Parliament in 1999.

Growing up, she drew great motivation from her parents’ immigrant story.

She told RNZ Pacific that she often contemplated their journey to New Zealand from Samoa on a boat. Sailing with them were their dreams for a better life.

When she became the first Samoan woman to be made a dame in 2018, she spoke about how her success was a manifestation of those dreams.

‘Hard work and sacrifice’
“And it is that hard work and sacrifice that for me makes me reflect on why this award is so important.

“Because it acknowledges the Pacific journey of sacrifice and dreams. But more importantly, bringing up a generation who must make the best use of their opportunities.”

After serving as assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika) at Te Herenga Waka/Victoria University since 2010, Dame Winnie is stepping down. As she prepares to move on from that role, she spoke to RNZ Pacific about the importance of Pasifika women in society.

“Our women teach us that our strength and resilience is in our relationship, courage to do what is right, respect and ability to work together, stay together and look after and support each other,” she said.

“We are also reminded of the powerful women from our communities who are strong leaders and contributors to the welfare and wellbeing of our families and communities.

“They are the sacred weavers of our ie toga, tivaevae, latu, bilum and masi that connect our genealogy and our connection to each other.

“Our Pacific Ocean is our mother and she binds us together. This is our enduring legacy.”

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.

International Women’s Day, March 8, is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women around the world.

Closer to home, here in Aotearoa New Zealand, we can take a moment to acknowledge Pasifika women, and in particular the contributions of Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban.

For her, “International Women’s day is an opportunity to acknowledge Pasifika women’s contribution to economic, social, and cultural development in New Zealand and our Pacific region.”

• READ MORE:  International Women’s Day activists protest in solidarity with Palestinians
• Other International Women’s Day reports

Luamanuvao has a significant string of “firsts” in her resume, including becoming the first Pasifika woman to be elected to Parliament in 1999.

Growing up, she drew great motivation from her parents’ immigrant story.

She told RNZ Pacific that she often contemplated their journey to New Zealand from Samoa on a boat. Sailing with them were their dreams for a better life.

When she became the first Samoan woman to be made a dame in 2018, she spoke about how her success was a manifestation of those dreams.

‘Hard work and sacrifice’
“And it is that hard work and sacrifice that for me makes me reflect on why this award is so important.

“Because it acknowledges the Pacific journey of sacrifice and dreams. But more importantly, bringing up a generation who must make the best use of their opportunities.”

After serving as assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika) at Te Herenga Waka/Victoria University since 2010, Dame Winnie is stepping down. As she prepares to move on from that role, she spoke to RNZ Pacific about the importance of Pasifika women in society.

“Our women teach us that our strength and resilience is in our relationship, courage to do what is right, respect and ability to work together, stay together and look after and support each other,” she said.

“We are also reminded of the powerful women from our communities who are strong leaders and contributors to the welfare and wellbeing of our families and communities.

“They are the sacred weavers of our ie toga, tivaevae, latu, bilum and masi that connect our genealogy and our connection to each other.

“Our Pacific Ocean is our mother and she binds us together. This is our enduring legacy.”

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.

The U.S. empire, draped in the language of feminism and empowerment, has weaponized IWD to justify its gangsterism. In Gaza, U.S.-backed Israeli forces have killed and displaced thousands of women and children, destroying homes, hospitals, and schools under the guise of “security.” In Sudan, U.S.-aligned forces and foreign interventions have fueled a devastating civil war, displacing millions and leaving women vulnerable to sexual violence and starvation. In Haiti, U.S. imperialism has propped up corrupt regimes and destabilized the nation, leaving women to bear the brunt of poverty, violence, and systemic collapse. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Black women in cities like Chicago and rural areas like the Mississippi Delta face systemic neglect, police violence, and economic exploitation. These are not isolated incidents but the direct consequences of Western imperialism, which prioritizes profit and power over human lives.

The celebration of IWD by those complicit in these atrocities is a grotesque distortion of its founding principles. True solidarity with women worldwide means opposing the systems that exploit and destroy their lives. It means standing against the U.S. empire’s wars, sanctions, and interventions that disproportionately harm women in the Global South. It means reclaiming IWD as a day of resistance against imperialism, capitalism, and patriarchy.

For the Black Alliance for Peace, the task is reclaiming International Women’s Day as a day of struggle, not of celebration—a day to dismantle Western imperialism and fight for a world where all women can live in freedom and dignity.

No Compromise.

No Retreat!

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Black Alliance for Peace.

Activists in Aotearoa New Zealand marked International Women’s Day today and the start of Ramadan this week with solidarity rallies across the country, calling for justice and peace for Palestinian women and the territories occupied illegally by Israel.

The theme this year for IWD is “For all women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment” and this was the 74th week of Palestinian solidarity protests.

First speaker at the Auckland rally today, Del Abcede of the Aotearoa section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), said the protest was “timely given how women have suffered the brunt of Israel’s war on Palestine and the Gaza ceasefire in limbo”.

• READ MORE: Muslim nations condemn Israel’s ‘war crimes and acts of genocide’
• International Women’s Day is for the few, not the many
• The world cannot ignore Trump’s death threat to the people of Gaza
• Gallery: NZ women call for long-term peace and justice in Palestine
• Other Gaza genocide reports

“Women are the backbone of families and communities. They provide care, support and nurturing to their families and the development of children,” she said.

“Women also play a significant role in community building and often take on leadership roles in community organisations. Empowered women empower the world.”

Abcede explained how the non-government organisation WILPF had national sections in 37 countries, including the Palestine branch which was founded in 1988. WILPF works close with its Palestinian partners, Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) and General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW).

“This catastrophe is playing out on our TV screens every day. The majority of feminists in Britain — and in the West — seem to have nothing to say about it,” Abcede said, quoting gender researcher Dr Maryam Aldosarri, to cries of shame.

‘There can be neutrality’
“In the face of such overwhelming terror, there can be no neutrality.”

Dr Aldosarri said in an article published earlier in the war on Gaza last year that the “siege and indiscriminate bombardment” had already “killed, maimed and disappeared under the rubble tens of thousands of Palestinian women and children”.

“Many more have been displaced and left to survive the harsh winter without appropriate shelter and supplies. The almost complete breakdown of the healthcare system, coupled with the lack of food and clean water, means that some 45,000 pregnant women and 68,000 breastfeeding mothers in Gaza are facing the risk of anaemia, bleeding, and death.

“Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian women and children in the occupied West Bank are still imprisoned, many without trial, and trying to survive in abominable conditions.”

The death toll in the war — with killings still happening in spite of the precarious ceasefire — is now more than 50,000 — mostly women and children.

Abcede read out a statement from WILPF International welcoming the ceasefire, but adding that it “was only a step”.

“Achieving durable and equitable peace demands addressing the root causes of violence and oppression. This means adhering to the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 advisory opinion by dismantling the foundational structures of colonial violence and ensuring Palestinians’ rights to self-determination, dignity and freedom.”

Action for justice and peace
Abcede also spoke about what action to take for “justice and peace” — such as countering disinformation and influencing the narrative; amplifying Palstinian voices and demands; joining rallies — “like what we do every Saturday”; supporting the global BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaign against Israel; writing letters to the government calling for special visas for Palestinians who have families in New Zealand; and donating to campaigns supporting the victims.

Gaza’s hospitals had been “reduced to rubble by Israeli bombs”, she said.

“UN reports that over 60,000 women would give birth this year in Gaza. But Israel has destroyed every maternity hospital.

“Women will be delivered in tents, corridors, or bombed out homes without anasthesia, without doctors, without clean water.

“When Israel killed Gaza’s only foetal medicine specialist, Dr Muhammad Obeid, it wasn’t collateral damage — it was calculated reproductive terror.”

“Now, miscarriages have spiked by 300 percent, and mothers stitch their own C-sections with sewing thread.”

‘Femicide – a war crime’
Babies who survived birth entered a world where Israel blocked food aid — 1 in 10 infants would die of starvation, 335,000 children faced starvation, and their mothers forced to watch, according to UNICEF.

“This is femicide — this is a war crime.”

Eugene Velasco, of the Filipino feminist action group Gabriela Aotearoa, said Israel’s violence in Gaza was a “clear reminder of the injustice that transcends geographical borders”.

“The injustice is magnified in Gaza where the US-funded genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people has resulted in the deaths of more than 61,000.”

‘Pernicious’ Regulatory Standards Bill
Dr Jane Kelsey, a retired law professor and justice advocate, spoke of an issue that connected the “scourge of colonisation in Palestine and Aotearoa with the same lethal logic and goals”.

The parallels between both colonised territories included theft of land and the creation of private property rights, and the denial of sovereign authority and self-determination.

She spoke of how international treaties that had been entered in good faith were disrespected, disregarded and “rewritten as it suits the colonising power”.

Dr Kelsey said an issue that had “gone under the radar” needed to be put on the radar and for action.

She said that while the controversial Treaty Principles Bill would not proceed because of the massive mobilisations such as the hikoi, it had served ACT’s purpose.

“Behind the scenes is ACT’s more systemic and pernicious Regulatory Standards Bill,” she said. ACT had tried three times to get the bill adopted and failed, but it was now in the coalition government’s agreement.

A ‘stain on humanity’
Meanwhile, Hamas has reacted to a Gaza government tally of the number of women who were killed by Israel’s war, reports Al Jazeera.

“The killing of 12,000 women in Gaza, the injury and arrest of thousands, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands are a stain on humanity,” the group said.

“Palestinian female prisoners are subjected to psychological and physical torture in flagrant violation of all international norms and conventions.”

Hamas added the suffering endured by Palestinian female prisoners revealed the “double standards” of Western countries, including the United States, in dealing with Palestinians.

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

Women from Aotearoa, Philippines, Palestine and South Africa today called for justice and peace for the people of Gaza and the West Bank, currently under a genocidal siege and attacks being waged by Israel for the past 16 months.

Marking International Women’s Day, the rally highlighted the theme: “For all women and girls – Rights, equality and empowerment.”

Speakers outlined how women are the “backbone of families and communities” and how they have borne the brunt of the crimes against humanity in occupied Palestine with the “Israeli war machine” having killed more than 50,000 people, mostly women and children, since 7 October 2023.

The speakers included Del Abcede and Lorri Mackness of the International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), Gabriela’s Eugene Velasco, and retired law professor Jane Kelsey.

• Images by Asia Pacific Report’s David Robie
• More photos and videos at: https://bit.ly/3F5HVxF

International Women's Day and Palestine

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

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The post United Nations observes International Women’s Day, warning of “mainstreaming of misogyny”; Trump holds White House summit on cryptocurrency he once said “seems like a scam” – March 7, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.

The lack of women representation in parliaments across the world remains a vexed and contentious issue.

In Fiji, this problem has again surfaced for debate in response to Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica’s call for a quota system to increase women’s representation in Parliament.

Kamikamica was speaking at the “Capacity Building Training for Prospective Women and Youth Candidates in Local Elections” workshop in Suva in November last year.

• READ MORE: Other gender in Pacific politics reports

The workshop was organised by Suva-based civil society organisation, Dialogue Fiji, in collaboration with Emily’s List Australia and funded by Misereor.

Kamikamica noted that women’s representation in Fiji’s Parliament peaked at 20 percent in 2018, only to drop to 14 percent after the 2022 elections.

He highlighted what he saw as an anomaly — 238,389 women voted in the 2022 election, surpassing men’s turnout.

However, women candidates garnered only 37,252 votes, accounting for just 8 percent of the total votes cast. This saw only six out of 54 female candidates elected to Parliament.

Reducing financial barriers
He said implementing supportive policies and initiatives, such as reducing financial barriers to running for office and providing childcare support could address some of the structural challenges faced by aspiring female leaders.

While agreeing with Kamikamica’s supportive remarks, Suva-based lawyer and former journalist Sainiana Radrodro called for urgent and concrete actions to empower aspiring women candidates besides just discussions.

She identified finance, societal norms and more recently, bullying on social media, as major obstacles for women aspiring for political careers. She said measures to address these problems were either insufficient, or non-existent.

Radrodro, who participated in the 2024 Women’s “Mock Parliament”, supports a quota system, but only as a temporary special measure (TSM). TSM is designed to advance gender equality by addressing structural, social, and cultural barriers, correcting past and present discrimination, and compensating for harm and inequalities.

The lawyer said that TSM could be a useful tool if applied in a measured way, noting that countries that rushed into implementing it faced a backlash due to poor advocacy and public understanding.

She recommends TSM based on prior and proper dialogue and awareness to ensure that women elected through such measures are not marginalised or stereotyped as having “ridden on the back of government policies”.

She said with women comprising half of the national population, it was sensible to have proportional representation in Parliament.

Social media attacks
While she agreed with Kamikamica that finance remained a significant obstacle for Fijian women seeking public office, she stated that non-financial barriers, such as attacks on social media, should not be overlooked.

To level the playing field, Radrodro’s suggestions include government subsidies for women candidates, similar to the support provided to farmers and small businesses.

“This would signal a genuine commitment by the government to foster women’s participation in the legislature,” she said.

Radrodro’s views were echoed by the University of the South Pacific postgraduate student in sociology, Lovelyn Laurelle Giva-Tuke.

She advocates a holistic approach encompassing financial assistance, specific legislation to address violence against women in political contexts; capacity-building programs to equip women with leadership, campaigning, and public speaking skills; and measures to ensure fair and equitable media coverage, rather than stereotyped and discriminatory coverage.

Giva-Tuke emphasised that society as a whole stand to benefit from a gender balanced political establishment. This was also highlighted by Kamikamica in his address. He cited research showing that women leaders tended to prioritise healthcare, education, and social welfare.

While there is no disagreement about the problem, and the needs to address it, Giva-Tuke, like Radrodro, believes that discussions and ideas must translate into action.

“As a nation, we can and must do more to create an inclusive political landscape that values women’s contributions at every level,” she said.

Protection another hurdle
For Radrodro, one of the most urgent and unaddressed problems is the targeting of women with harmful social media content, which is rampant and unchecked in Fiji.

“There is a very high level of attacks against women on social media even from women against other women. These raises reservations in potential women candidates who now have another hurdle to cross.”

Radrodro said a lot of women were simply terrified of being abused online and having their lives splashed across social media, which was also harmful for their children and families.

She said it was disheartening to see the lack of consistent support from leaders when women politicians faced personal attacks.

She called for stronger policies and enforcement to curb online harassment, urging national leaders to take a stand against such behavior.

Another female rights campaigner, the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement executive director Nalini Singh, called for stronger and more effective collaboration between stakeholders — communal groups, women’s groups, local government departments, political parties and the Fijian Elections Office.

Singh highlighted the need for a major educational campaign to change the mindsets with gender sensitisation programs targeting communities. She also recommended increased civic education and awareness of government structures and electoral systems.

Temporary law changes
While she supported reserved parliamentary seats for women, Singh said temporary changes in laws or regulations to eliminate systemic barriers and promote gender equality were also needed.

Singh also highlighted the importance of bridging the generational gaps between older women who have worked in local government, and young women with an interest in joining the political space by establishment of mentoring programmes.

She said mandating specific changes or participation levels within a defined timeframe and advocacy and awareness campaigns targeted at changing societal attitudes and promoting the inclusion of underrepresented groups were other options.

“These are just some ways or strategies to help increase representation of women in leadership spaces, especially their participation in politics,” said Singh.

The views of women such as Sainiana Radrodro, Lovelyn Laurelle Giva-Tuke and Nalini Singh indicate not just what needs to be done to address this problem, but also how little has actually been done.

On his part, Kamikamica has said all the right things, demonstrating a good understanding of the weaknesses in the system. What is lacking is the application of these ideas and sentiments in a real and practical sense.

Unless this is done, the ideas will remain just that — ideas.

Monika Singh is a teaching assistant with The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme and the supervising editor of the student newspaper Wansolwara. This article is first published by The Fiji Times and is republished here as part of a collaboration between USP Journalism and Asia Pacific Report.

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

More than three years later, the two journalists run the agency from exile in the United States. To get out the news, they rely on the reporting of 15 female journalists hired in 10 provinces to replace the staff who fled. As the Taliban has become increasingly hostile to women journalists and the exile press, the newsroom takes extreme security precautions. Zoom meetings take place with a strict “cameras off” policy so that the women won’t be compromised if they recognize each other on the street.

In June, CPJ interviewed Karimi and Siddiqi in Columbia, Missouri, where they were attending a safety training for journalists in exile at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. During the interview, both men checked their phones often, explaining the importance of remaining available at all times for their reporters.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Can you describe the atmosphere for the press immediately after the Taliban takeover?

Karimi: When the Taliban took over, our hope collapsed overnight. We were working journalists for eight years before the takeover and we used our journalism against extremist Taliban ideology. Our work aimed to promote democratic values and human rights in our country by creating a newsroom and outlet for female journalists. Eight years of such work was evidence enough for the Taliban to attack us. 

Siddiqi: Social norms in Afghanistan regarding women’s rights are very sensitive and this was the main reason we had to flee. When you are talking about women’s rights in Afghanistan, you are not only facing danger from the Taliban, but also from others in the country who adhere to such radical beliefs.

I remember when we were working in Herat, our office was in a very safe location, but even our neighbors would question why so many women were entering the building. They assumed there was some ethical wrongdoing. Since our work highlighted women’s issues, we were in danger from the Taliban and the pervasive misogyny in the society at large.

The Afghanistan Women’s News Agency is one of just a handful of women-focused outlets covering Afghanistan, like Rukshana Media and Zan Times. What led you to found it in 2016?

Karimi: Siddiqi and I both taught at Herat University. As a professor of journalism, I witnessed my female students struggle and face a lack of resources and opportunities every day. The disparity between them and my male students was blatantly obvious. Lack of access to media equipment, gender inequality in the newsroom, harassment and discrimination was a daily reality for these women.

In light of this, I decided to create a safe environment for my female students to publish their stories, [to] access media equipment and the internet eight years before the Taliban takeover. Although the Taliban was not yet in power, the extremist ideology had already begun to spread rapidly.

Families were understandably concerned when their daughters went to school or the newsroom, but when we established this newsroom solely for women, almost all female journalists across Herat came to work there. As a professor, I had the trust of these women’s families. That’s why I, as a man, was able to set up this space and reassure the families that it was safe.

Part of your staff is in exile, but you still have many female journalists based in Afghanistan. What’s their experience like?

Karimi: All of our female reporters on the ground have to remain anonymous for their safety as per our contract. Their names are never published with their stories. There are currently 15 female journalists working with us, spread across 10 provinces. Some of them are our former interns whom we hired permanently and some of them are currently interns who receive training through Zoom, so that they can be the next generation of female reporters. All of them are actively reporting, even interns, as they learn and are simultaneously paid for their work.

Siddiqi: It’s important to add that our reporters know each other by name only. Our reporters have never met or seen each other’s faces since we require them to turn their cameras off during virtual meetings. We are extremely strict about our security protocols in order to ensure that if one of our reporters faces Taliban retaliation, their colleagues will remain safe. Our reporters know that even a minor mistake can put our whole newsroom in danger.

It is obvious that these women are well aware of the danger that comes with being journalists. Why are they still in the country and choosing to report despite these risks?

Siddiqi: From my understanding and through my conversations with them, there are two main reasons. One, these women are wholly committed to their work. When I am talking with them, I learn that they work more than eight hours a day because they love their job. They all know the impact that they are making in the current environment. Two, financial security is also a huge part of their choice to report. It is rare for women to work and receive salaries in the country under the Taliban. AWNA pays its journalists and this provides them with some level of control and financial independence.

Karimi: These female journalists know that the stakes are very high. Many times I have told them that their security is our priority. We don’t want any report or story that puts their safety at risk, but they still don’t prioritize themselves. They prioritize their reporting. Nobody can stop them from making their voices heard even in the most repressive atmosphere.

What is it like for you when your reporters are so far away while you are in exile?

Karimi: To be honest, I am not comfortable. Sometimes I think something bad has happened to a colleague. Trying to minimize their risk is one of our strategies and biggest challenges. I am very concerned every single day.

Have any of the female journalists working for AWNA had dangerous encounters with the Taliban?

Siddiqi: Just a few days ago, one of our female reporters called me from Kabul while she was attempting to report on a business exhibition. Upon entering the venue, she was detained by the Taliban. In the commotion of a large crowd, she somehow managed to hide herself and escaped without facing arrest.

I called her after that and I reiterated that this cannot be the norm. I told her that we cannot lose her and that without her, there would be no reporting. My colleague replied that she tries her best and knows all the newsroom security protocols. But even for non-political events, this is the risk and the reality for female journalists in the country.

How has reporting from exile shaped your view of the future of the media in Afghanistan? 

Karimi: In my opinion, the lack of free and independent media in the country has created a need for reliable media in exile to combat Taliban propaganda and control. There is a lack of female-run media. We have bypassed the Taliban firewall by providing information from exile to empower people within the country, especially women.

Siddiqi: There are so many Afghan women who are students, photographers, activists, and writers, as well as journalists who can no longer publicize their work on their own channels due to safety concerns. Many of them have found a place in AWNA in order to share their work and add value to the media atmosphere. These are all citizens and female journalists. There are thousands of women who have something to share, journalists by training or not, who are acting as citizen journalists. They have something to show and we are dedicated to uplifting it.

Do you both hope to return to your country if things change?

Siddiqi: I chose to leave my parents, siblings, everything in order to escape the regime.

Life is not easy for me here. I left my memories and emotions in Afghanistan. Everyday these memories disturb me. I was educated and began my career in Afghanistan and I believe I owe my country.

Karimi: Of course I hope to go back to my country. Right now, I feel that I have three lives as an exiled journalist: The first is the life I left behind in Afghanistan, which includes most of my family. Half of my mind and heart remains there. My second life is this one in exile where I am forced to rebuild my personal and professional life from scratch. My third life revolves around how to keep my colleagues safe and to honor their mission as female journalists. I am constantly navigating these three lives and it is a devastating reality.

What is your hope for Afghan women journalists in the future?

Siddiqi: There is no hope bigger than Afghan women having their basic human rights and access to education. If there is no education for women, there is no understanding of their reality and rights. If there is no understanding in a society, there is no justice. If there is no justice, we are no longer in a human society, but in a jungle. The Taliban has shut off all the doors that were once available for Afghan women and together, we are trying to pry them open.

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

Monday’s 1-0 victory over Japan in the final in Bogota, Colombia, was splashed on the front page of the Rodong Sinmun. That’s highly unusual for the main state-run newspaper, which normally runs articles and editorials about supreme leader Kim Jong Un.

“The front page of the Rodong Sinmun is decided by Kim Jong Un himself or by the Kim's Secretariat,” said Lee Hyun-seung, a researcher at the Seoul-based Global Peace Foundation who escaped from North Korea.

“North Korean citizens may think, 'We beat Japan and U.S. imperialism and won the Women’s World Cup.' In that sense, Kim Jong-un probably gave the order” to publish the article on the front page, he said.

The win puts North Korea in the same company as women’s soccer powerhouses Germany and the United States, which have also won the U-20 competition three times each.

Inspiring patriotism

In late July and early August, northwestern North Korea suffered flooding from heavy rains, destroying many homes and farms. 

Officials told RFA Korean at the time that North Korea refused offers of help from China to rescue people living on islands in the Yalu River between the countries out of fear that those rescued would try to escape to China permanently.

“Flood recovery work is underway right now but North Korea has nothing notable to achieve,” Lee said. “There were no economic or cultural achievements, and the only achievements are related to missile and nuclear development. 

“But now that there are achievements in the sports field, Kim Jong-un may think that he has saved face,” he said.

Video from state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, showed people in the capital of Pyongyang looking at photos and articles about the team displayed on screens in subway stations and on their cell phones.

“It is effective because watching sports inspires patriotism and sends support and passion to their athletes,” Lee said. “Of course, the citizens like it. If a small country like North Korea achieves something, it is even more encouraging.”

Hug a police officer

Monday’s game winner came in the 15th minute when 17-year-old Choe Il Son dribbled in from the right side, sending a left foot shot past Japanese goalkeeper Akane Okuma’s outstretched hands. That made Choe the competition’s leading scorer with six goals.

Choe had grabbed attention earlier when a photo showed her publicly hugging a police officer after her team defeated the United States in the semifinal in Cali on Sept. 18. 

It was a rare display of emotion for North Korean athletes, who generally keep contact with outsiders to a minimum.

But Choe said that she was actually approached by the female officer.

“There is really nothing special behind it, it’s just that the citizens of Cali and the police have all gotten to know us,” she told Femina Football, a Colombian media outlet which exclusively covers women’s soccer. 

“The police and I have become very familiar with each other since the preliminaries and came all the way up to this point together, so she was happy and hugged me.”

Young individualism

The hug might point towards a more individualistic upbringing that North Korea’s younger generation experienced. 

These women were born during or after the 1994-1998 North Korean famine, an effect of the country’s centrally planned economy failing to absorb the shock that resulted from the collapse of the Soviet Union and a cessation of aid from Moscow.

In the years following that catastrophe, government salaries were nowhere near enough to live on, and people had to rely on themselves to make a living, usually by selling goods and services in the local jangmadang, or marketplace. 

The people therefore have grown less accustomed to collectivism over time, and are more difficult to control, according to Kim Sookyung, who escaped North Korea in 1998 and settled in Virginia.

“First of all, there is nothing the country can do in (its current economic) situation,” she said. “A sense of rebellion is bound to arise sooner or later. Those people have no choice but to be individualistic. They are exposed to a lot of foreign cultures unlike the older generation.”

This trend can be observed in other young North Korean athletes, who freely exchanged badges or took selfies with other athletes on the medal podium at the Olympics in Paris this summer.

This could suggest that authorities have recently begun allowing North Korean athletes to have light contact with outsiders, said Ahn Sung-hyuk, a North Korean escapee who is currently a student at Syracuse University.

“The State Security Department monitors all North Koreans overseas,” said Ahn. “Every single action is being monitored, so I think they may have been given permission to act like that.”

At the Olympics, after Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong of the North Korean mixed doubles table tennis team took pictures with Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin of the South Korean team during a medal ceremony, observers were concerned that they could be punished, but they were featured prominently on state TV.

Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Park Jaewoo and Cho Jinwoo for RFA Korean.

You can access photos and videos of the disruption here. (please credit CODEPINK)

During the disruption, activists highlighted the intrinsicconnection between feminist values and the anti-war movement, drawing attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The activists condemned the bipartisan support for Israel’s actions, which they argue are fundamentally opposed to feminist principles.

"Palestine is a feminist issue. All feminists should support an arms embargo on Gaza," said co-founder CODEPINK Medea Benjamin. "Our brothers and sisters in Palestine are not 'collateral damage'—they are victims of a war machine that is inherently anti-feminist and destructive. No one should be allowed to claim feminism while supporting genocide.” she continued.

CODEPINK emphasized the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where over 183 women give birth without painkillers daily, and the majority of the 40,000 Palestinians killed by Israel are women and children. "Israel is starving children in Gaza," declared CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans.

CODEPINK and allied groups remain committed to exposing what they see as the hypocrisy of Western feminism that turns a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinian women and children. They vow to hold those responsible for the ongoing genocide in Gaza accountable.

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

With the arrival of affable teacher, football coach and midwestern nice guy Tim Walz, the contrasts between the Prosecutor/Coach vs. the Predator/Sycophant are made ever more thunderously clear. Walz has a sterling progressive record of abortion protections, gun control, gay rights, paid leave, carbon-free power; he also named a highway for Prince, works on his car, has a dog and cat, and "wants people to have what they need when they need it." His governing mantra: "Look out for your neighbors, stop being weird."

By now there's broad consensus Harris' VP pick of, not a centrist, coastal, elite lawyer but the relatively unknown, down-home, deeply decent Walz was a brilliant move, both macro - atypically for a party that often pivots right to attract swing voters, she chose a "Heartland Democrat" who's been stunningly adept in achieving progressive goals - to micro, in her folksy way of calling him "Coach Walz." She's said she chose him in part for his focus on middle-class families; it's clear, in their first buoyant rallies, they also share a sense of joy and good cheer that's wildly contagious, probably because - see national orange affliction - it's so long overdue. Together, they've inspired the most exuberant memes, signs and t-shirts since Bernie's mittens took center stage: "White Dudes for Harris," "Put us in, Coach," "Cats For Kamala," "You can't go wrong with a Social Studies teacher," "Madame ('Vice' crossed out) President," "We're Neighbors and We're Not Weird." Comedian Vinny Thomas likely spoke for many: "I am overjoyed. I have been a longtime supporter of Tim Walz ever since I learned about him like last week."

Walz, 60, was born and grew up in small Nebraska towns - West Point, Valentine - spending summers working on his family’s farm. His father died of cancer when he was young, and his family relied on Social Security survivor benefits to get by. At 17, he joined the Army National Guard; unlike Private Bone Spurs, he served over 20 years, rose to command sergeant major, and later became the highest-ranking soldier to serve in Congress. He used the GI Bill to go to college and became a teacher, eventually getting a master's degree; for a year he also taught English in China through a Harvard-affiliated program, and speaks some Mandarin. Teaching in Nebraska, he met and married colleague Gwen Whipple, who also teaches in the Bard Prison Initiative; they later moved to Minnesota, where they continued teaching and had two children, Hope and Gus, after seven years of IVF treatment. During his 20- year tenure at Mankato High School, he was voted “Most Inspiring" teacher after signing up as faculty adviser for its first gay -straight alliance; he wisely felt it was vital the job go to "the football coach who was the soldier, and straight, and married."

Walz entered politics late, in his 40s, after he and some of his students were kicked out of a rally for George W. Bush because one of them had a John Kerry sticker. After training at Camp Wellstone, a Dem political boot camp named for progressive icon Sen. Paul Wellstone - his trainer was his now-Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan - he ran for Congress in 2005, ousting a GOP incumbent to win a House seat in the rural, conservative 1st District; one of his key issues was support for marriage equality. Re-elected five times, he was known as a centrist - top Dem on the Veterans’ Affairs committee, he supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - but he voted for Obamacare and against restrictions on federal funding for abortion. When he left Congress in 2018 to run for governor, he shifted noticeably left. Utilizing a $17.6 billion surplus from good tax revenues and spending cuts, he and Dem lawmakers enacted a sweeping progressive agenda, funding education, expanded child care, lower taxes for working families, paid family and medical leave, free school breakfast and lunch, tuition-free public college and health insurance regardless of immigration status.

Dem chair of the National Governor's Association, Walz also legalized cannabis, invested in tech and infrastructure, banned LGBTQ conversion therapy, signed a law requiring phase-out by 2040 of fossil fuels to carbon-free sources, restored voting rights to former inmates and, after the overthrow of Roe v Wade, made his state the first to provide constitutional abortion protections. An ardent turkey and pheasant hunter - he introduced a "Governor's Opener" to kick off each season - he expanded background checks for gun purchases, turning his once-fab NRA rating into "straight F's." He also used his new-found fame to taunt fake hillbilly Vance - "I guarantee he can’t shoot pheasants like I can" - and the campaign now features a Harris/Walz camo cap. He supports access to IVF, not least because "I wouldn't have my kids without it," he doesn't drink after being pulled over for speeding in 1995 and failing a sobriety test - Gwen: "You have obligations to people. You can’t make dumb choices" - and he cheerfully calls himself a "Minnesota Lutheran": "If you do something good and talk about it, it no longer counts - you have to get someone else to talk about you."

In what he boasted was "the coolest bill-signing we’ll ever do," he giddily renamed part of a highway the "Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway," with purple ink, in purple shirt and tie. He signed a bill providing free breakfast and lunch to all schoolchildren, regardless of income to remove any stigma for kids of poor families; in a now-viral video, a small grinning mob cheer and bounce around him. When Repubs opposed it, he posited that beliefs against feeding hungry kids "are ideas that only animate people of troubling character." He also signed a bill mandating free menstrual products be available in all Grade 4-to-12 restrooms, which made GOP heads explode. On CNN, Jake Tapper asked if all these suspect acts of humanity made him "vulnerable." Walz, dryly: "Kids are eating, women are making their own health care decisions, we're a top 5 business state, in the top 3 for happiness...What a monster." In further crimes, videos online show him cuddling small critters, chowing down at the fair, giving carburetor advice. A final blow to "the most anti-pet ticket in American history": He has a dog and cat, and posts hilarious videos of them.

— (@)

Of course the GOP response to all this good will and good work has been gracious, reasonable and respectful. LOL. Kidding. With the sudden, gleeful rise of Democratic fortunes - AOC: "Dems in disconcerting levels of array" - a sullen right-wing has been caught flat-footed (again), flailing and sniping at a party that seems to be attracting and actually helping a middle class, albeit in commie ways, they've clearly never met but only read about, like they've long claimed they were doing with fat-cat tax cuts, book banning, migrant demonizing and alleged trickle-down everything that didn't. In this case, the real-live candidates aren't helping much to maintain their fictional common man cred: It's tough to pose as champions of we the people when your guys are a scuzzy, loud-mouthed racist, felon and robber baron with gold toilets who got handed and lost millions and an unctuous, billionaire-funded venture capitalist with the charisma of damp cardboard facing off against America's steely, smiling, I'm-speaking-now prosecutor and a folksy, beloved, gun-owning, animal-cuddling schoolteacher, football coach, veteran and Santa Claus look-alike.

Still, lacking options and insight, they've tried. A Trump Super Pac calls Walz "Tampon Tim" and an "incompetent liberal," charging - both Walz and Harris are "far-left radicals that (sic) don't know how to govern" - pot/kettle - and will "give your taxpayer dollars to the rest of the world." Oh no: free lunch in Sudan. That paled before the apocalyptic response of their decrepit, incoherent "Liberace clone" leader. Walz will "unleash HELL ON EARTH and open our borders to the worst criminals imaginable," he shrieked in bold yellow highlights. He'll also "rubber stamp Kamla's (sic) GREEN NEW SCAM" and "light TRILLIONS of dollars on fire" - that would be him - and "he's already pulled in MILLIONS in dirty cash to buy the White House" (ditto). Yeah, he's fine, no deranged decline here, let's have him run the country. Implausibly, per Noah Berlatsky, Vance, who he "decided is just the kind of repulsive sycophant he wants sycophanting for him," who made it big writing "a sustained ode to self-satisfied loathing of the less fortunate," has been worse. "They've decided to go as dark and ugly as possible," said one pundit, "with the dollop of cringe Vance always brings."

With "weird" Vance's approval ratings under water, he keeps bringing that rookie, nasty, puerile "J.V." cringe to everything he touches. Asked what makes him smile, he says he's angry. Creepily stalking Harris on a tarmac, he says he's checking out "my plane" and leaves racist dog-whistles behind. Willing to "do things that would be beneath the dignity of most politicians," he tried swiftboating Walz on his 24-year military record (Vance spent four as a military media hack) and got savaged. He blasted Walz as a "San Francisco-style liberal," side-stepping (in vain) the fact he lived in San Francisco for years making it big as a capitalist whereas Mr. Midwestern just visited the city for the first time last month. He raved Dems "want this country to go communist immediately if not sooner"; America snarked back, "Imagine going after a guy for - *checks notes* - being a good neighbor." Fox ran a supposedly indignant gotcha video of Walz doing good, which crashed and burned: "How dare he do things to bring all people to the table? A politician taking care of people while also taking responsibility for any issues during his leadership? Oh, the horror..."

In his first 24 hours on the ticket, Dems raised $36 million from over 450,000 donors, many first time donors. And for what it's worth, the Internet loves him and his Normal Dad energy. Killer contrasts were drawn: "Harris/Waltz will give 4th graders free lunch, Trump/Vance will force them to give birth," "Walz coached football. That's cute - Trump destroyed a football league." Fellow Minnesotan Al Franken cited his record - reproductive freedom, paid leave, school meals - adding, "And he's not weird!" John Cleese, having noticed MAGA's "vast well of stupidity," wondered why they don't want felons to vote but do want them as president. Some posted a Walz family photo - mom, dad, beaming kids each holding fidgety dog and cat - to note, "Wait, those aren't assault rifles. What's wrong with these people?" A montage offered "five minutes of Walz being awesome" - marching at a Pride parade, transferring land back to the Upper Sioux community, signing a proclamation for Philando Castile Remembrance Days and movingly embracing his tearful wife after signing the country's first constitutional abortion protections into law.

Thanks to Trump's ill-considered hysteria about Dems ushering in a dystopian nightmare, there's also been many hellish sightings of Walz, usually in t-shirt and baseball cap, with small animals - sweetly stopping to pet a random cat, smilingly giving his dog ice cream, grinning while holding a goofy, runty, snoozing pig: "Trump saying Walz will unleash hell on earth is legit hilarious. This guy? Yeah, looks terrifying." One stickler opined, "I believe the Vice President does not have the constitutional authority to unleash hell on Earth. He'd just be standing by in case President Harris (is) unable to carry out her hell-unleashing duties." Many have noted the welcome disparity of Walz' wholesome, benevolent, unapologetically empathetic male persona juxtaposed with the glowering Trump's rapey, bullying boorishness and the misogynistic creepiness of his sidekick, who wants to monitor your daughter's menstrual cycle. Walz is "a living rebuke to the incessant, droning insistence there's no model of masculinity for young men that doesn't seem to entitle them to dominate and humiliate women," wrote one. "Yes, there is. He's holding a piglet."

At Dems' raucous rally in Philadelphia, Walz nailed his opponent: "Like all people I grew up with in the heartland, JD studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and then wrote a bestseller trashing that community...I can't wait to debate the guy, if he's willing to get off the couch." Also, "(I) remember when Republicans were the ones talking about freedom. It turns out (they) meant the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office. In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make. A golden rule: Mind your own damn business." As the tide turns, the Dems troll - the half-empty arenas, the puerile "Kamabla," the rabid rants on sharks, coups, bacon - and the old man crumbles. After a fact- check of his last gibbering meltdown, titled "Donald Trump’s Very Good, Very Normal Press Conference (or) Whatever the Hell That Was," the consensus: "He is one egg short of an omelette." Meanwhile, Walz, whose fave aphorisms include "One man's socialism is another man's neighborliness" and "We'll sleep when we're dead," surges. From one glad patriot, "The blue wave is coming, and it is covered in cat hair."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Abby Zimet.

In this week’s Gaslit Nation bonus show, Terrell Starr of the essential Black Diplomats Podcast & Substack joins Andrea to discuss the Caitlin Clark phenomenon, as well as the racism and misogyny targeting this golden age of women’s basketball. This isn't just about sports; it's a seismic shift in the way we discuss gender and race. We need better conversations—more nuanced, more empathetic—about these topics, and we need to recognize the lived experiences of those involved. The dialogue around women’s sports is riddled with misogyny and cultural clashes, and it’s high time we confront and dismantle these toxic narratives. So, let’s give Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, Cameron Brink, and their peers the respect they deserve, and in doing so, make strides toward a more equitable future in sports.

Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!

A very special shout-out to Gaslit Nation listener Leslie Nuss, who’s running for state senate in Indiana! Learn more about her campaign here.

Here are some of the exciting events we have coming up for our Patreon community: 

Investigative Journalist Craig Unger Live-Taping - June 25th 12pm ET: 

• June 25th is George Orwell’s birthday! Come celebrate with us at a live taping of Gaslit Nation, featuring another fearless journalist, Craig Unger, the author of several bestselling books: House of Trump, House of Putin; House of Bush, House of Saud; and American Kompromat: How the KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, and Related Tales of Sex, Greed, Power, and Treachery (which features his reporting on Jeffrey Epstein's pedophile global crime syndicate). Joining the live-taping will be Russian mafia expert Olga Lautman and European analyst Monique Camarra of Kremlin File. Drop your questions in the chat! Be sure to subscribe at Patreon.com/Gaslit at the Truth-teller tier ($5/month) or higher to get your ticket. A zoom link will be sent out the morning of the event. Thank you to everyone who supports the show! 

Cult Expert Dr. Janja Lalich Live-Taping - July 15 8pm ET

• July 15th kicks off the Republican National Convention/Hitler rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. To help us cope with the mainstream media, especially the New York Times, continuing to normalize Trump and his MAGA cult, we’re producing a live taping with cult expert Dr. Janja Lalich. Bring your questions about how to navitage this perilous time of rampant disinformation and manipulation, learn the signs of cult grooming, and how to help loved ones who have fallen victim. This will be Dr. Lalich’s second time on the show. You can listen to the interview with her from April 2022 here. 

In the Shadow of Stalin Book Launch - September 

• Gaslit Nation will host a live taping at a book launch in New York City for In the Shadow of Stalin, the graphic novel adaptation of Mr. Jones. It includes scenes that didn’t make it into the final cut of the film, or it would have been three hours long! The evening will include a special meet-up just for Patreon supporters. We look forward to sharing more details as we get closer. If you want a book event/live taping of Gaslit Nation in your town or city, let us know! 

Indivisible x Gaslit Nation Phonebank Party! - June 20th 7pm ET

• Open to all, Gaslit Nation and Indivisible are kicking things off early this year, really early! When there’s such a thing as Project 2025, there’s no time to waste. Come join us for our first phone bank party of the season, as we make calls to our fellow citizens in Republican hostage states, to refuse to abandon those on the frontlines of American authoritarianism, and to plant seeds of change. We’re going in! RSVP here to join us! https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/628701/

Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you! 

Show Notes:

Black Diplomats Substack & Podcast: https://terrellstarr.substack.com/

This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.

Democracy Now! speaks with the creators of a new arts campaign grounded in Black women’s stories. VOICES: a sacred sisterscape is an audio play directed by award-winning poet aja monet weaving together Black feminist poems and perspectives. “Art is an invitation to expand our participation in the world and the ways that we see the world,” says monet, who hopes the project inspires action beyond aesthetics. “Solidarity is about us being not just spectators, but actors in the reality of our lives.”

The project was created with V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against all women, gender-expansive people, girls and the Earth. “Rather than looking at Black women, we needed to put our headphones on and our masks … and do embodied listening,” says V, playwright of The Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day. “Through that, we begin to understand where we all connect, where we are all aligned.”

VOICES: a sacred sisterscape will be available for streaming June 11.

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

In a historic election, Claudia Sheinbaum has become the first woman elected president of Mexico. Sheinbaum is a climate scientist, former mayor of Mexico City and close ally of sitting president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. “She owes a lot to women’s movements in Mexico,” says Laura Carlsen, director of MIRA: Feminisms and Democracies. “This is more than a symbolic victory. What it means is that there’s an example for younger women that women can be leaders.” Carlsen says feminist movements are hopeful Sheinbaum’s administration will take on Mexico’s high rates of gender-based violence and femicide. Meanwhile, to the north, President Biden is signing an executive order today that would temporarily shut down the U.S.-Mexico border after asylum requests made by migrants surpass 2,500 a day, and Mexico’s cooperation will be key in enforcing the measure.

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

X (formerly Twitter) user ANGRY BIRD (Modi का परिवार) (@angryladki) shared the video on May 5 with a caption in Hindi that stated, “Congress party leaders dance with shoes on the Hindu deities of Sanatan Dharma…”

Readers should note that the user @angryladki has been found sharing misinformation several times in the past.

कांग्रेस पार्टी के नेताओं सनातन धर्म के हिंदू देवी देवता के ऊपर जूते से डांस करते हैं। हिंदू लोगों ने 65 वर्ष से कोंग्रेस पार्टी को वोट दिया। मै और मेरा परिवार कोंग्रेस पार्टी को वोट कभी भी नहीं देंगे।
जय जय श्री राम@INCIndia #CongressMukthBharat @RahulGandhi
क्या अब भी? pic.twitter.com/x6eMBslwv5

— ANGRY BIRD (Modi का परिवार) (@angryladki) May 5, 2024

Propaganda outlet Panchjanya (@epanchjanya) also shared the viral video with the same claim.

कांग्रेसियों की शर्मनाक हरकत !

भगवान राम की तस्वीर को पैर से कुचला, पोस्टर फाड़े।

स्थानीय अखबार के मुताबिक, इन्हें BJP का पटका गले में डालकर भगवान राम का पोस्टर फाड़ने को कहा गया था। pic.twitter.com/BovZUX9BOh

— Panchjanya (@epanchjanya) May 6, 2024

Several other users on Facebook and X shared the same video claiming that the Congress workers had stomped on the posters with images of Hindu deity Ram.

Fact Check

At the 1.27 mark of the viral video, a person who is recording the scene is heard saying in Hindi, “These are our BJP workers”. Toward the end of the video, the women who were stomping on the posters can be seen chanting ‘Jai Jai Siya Ram’, and one of the women in the crowd is spotted wearing a saffron and green scarf with the BJP symbol (Lotus) on it.

Further, we found the same video tweeted with the claim that the posters were torn by BJP members. It was shared by X handle @IndiaAwakened_. Here, too, one can see the BJP symbol on the scarves worn by some of the women.

Taking a cue from the above, we ran a relevant keyword search and found a news report by the Free Press  Journal which carried screengrabs from the viral video. The title of the report said: “Imarti Devi Row: Angry BJP Mahila Morcha Trample Jitu Patwari’s Posters Featuring Lord Ram & Hanuman In Indore; Congress Calls It ‘Insult To God’ (WATCH)”.

The report said that members of the BJP women’s wing had staged a demonstration outside the house of Congress leader Jitu Patwari, a former minister and current president of Madhya Pradesh Congress, in Indore, in protest against some comments made by him about former MLA and BJP leader Imarti Devi. The women in the video were tearing posters of Patwari, which also consisted of images of Hindu deities Hanuman and Ram.

We noticed that on several occasions in the video, then name Jitu Patwari or parts of the name are visible on the damaged posters. Here is one such frame:

As per a report by the NDTV, a case has been registered against Patwari for allegedly making objectionable comments about Imarti Devi.

Hence, the claims that it was Congress workers who had torn apart posters with images of Hindu deity Ram are false. The women seen in the video are BJP members protesting against some remarks by Congress leader Jitu Patwari.

The post BJP women’s wing members tore down Congress posters in Indore with images of Hindu deities; video falsely viral appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Oishani Bhattacharya.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Kangana Ranaut (@kanganaranaut)

Fact Check

Upon running a relevant keyword search, we came across several news reports regarding the Women’s Reservation Bill. We found a report by The Hindu from September 22, 2023, that the Women’s Reservation Bill or Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was passed in the Rajya Sabha unanimously after Lok Sabha passed the same on September 20. The report also mentioned that the Bill will only be implemented by 2029 after a census and delimitation exercise are conducted.

We accessed the actual Bill and found a section where the same has been mentioned. The Bill states that it “shall come into effect after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken for this purpose after the relevant figures for the first census taken after commencement of the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023 have been published”.

While the Bill was being debated in the Lok Sabha, home minister Amit Shah had asserted that census and delimitation would begin soon after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Delimitation involves adjusting the boundaries of parliamentary and assembly constituencies, leading to an expansion in the number of constituencies in line with the most recent population data. Hence, the delimitation exercise will be conducted after the Census. The last time the delimitation exercise was implemented in the country was in 2002. Since the 2021 Census could not be conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the 2024 Lok Sabha elections here, the 128th Amendment Bill can only be effective before the 2029 general elections after the Census and delimitation exercise are completed.

Hence, it is clear that the Women’s Reservation Bill that shall provide 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies has not yet been implemented, and therefore, Kangana Ranaut’s assertion that she could be a candidate because of the Bill is baseless.

The post Kangana Ranaut’s claim that she got ticket because of Women’s Reservation Bill is false appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Oishani Bhattacharya.

The post Women’s Health Highlighted at “Restore Roe” Election Event appeared first on Project Censored.

This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Vins.

8 March was not always International Women’s Day, nor has there always been any such day at all. The idea emerged from the Socialist International (also known as the Second International), where Clara Zetkin of the German Social Democratic Party and others fought from 1889 to hold a day to celebrate working women’s lives and struggles. Zetkin, alongside Alexandra Kollontai of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, sustained a struggle with their comrades to recognise the role of working women and the role of domestic labour in the creation of social wealth. In a context in which women across the North Atlantic states did not have the right to vote, these women intervened in a debate that was taking place among delegates of the Socialist International over whether men and women workers must be united under the banner of socialism to fight against their shared experience of exploitation or whether women should stay home.

In 1908, the women’s section of the Socialist Party of America held a mass rally in Chicago on 3 May to celebrate Woman’s Day. The following year, on 28 February 1909, this expanded to National Woman’s Day, held across the US. At the Second International Conference of Socialist Women, held in Copenhagen in 1910, a resolution was finally passed for all sections of the Socialist International to organise Women’s Day celebrations that would take place the following year. Socialist women organised public events in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland on 19 March 1911 to commemorate the March Revolution of 1848 in Germany. In 1912, Europeans celebrated Women’s Day on 12 May, and in 1913, Russian women marked the date on 8 March. In 1917, women workers in Russia organised a mass strike and demonstrations for ‘bread and peace’ on 8 March, which sparked the wider struggles that led to the Russian Revolution. At the Communist Women’s Second International Conference in 1921, 8 March was officially chosen as the date for annual celebrations of International Working Women’s Day. That is how the date became a fixture on the international calendar of struggles.

In 1945, communist women from around the world formed the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF), a body that was instrumental in establishing International Women’s Day. In 1972, Freda Brown from Australia’s WIDF section and the Communist Party of Australia wrote to the United Nations (UN) to propose that it hold an International Women’s Year and that it advance the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Pushed by WIDF, Helvi Sipilä, a Finnish diplomat and the first woman to hold the position of UN assistant secretary-general (at a time when 97% of senior positions were held by men) seconded the proposal for the International Women’s Year, which was accepted in 1972 and held in 1975. In 1977, the United Nations passed a resolution to hold a Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace, which is now known as International Women’s Day and held on 8 March.

Each March, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research honours this tradition by publishing a text that highlights an important woman in our struggle, such as Kanak Mukherjee (1921–2005) of India, Nela Martínez Espinosa (1912–2004) of Ecuador, and Josie Mpama (1903–1979) of South Africa. This year, we celebrate International Women’s Day (though perhaps International Working Women’s Month would be better) with the publication of dossier no. 74, Interrupted Emancipation: Women and Work in East Germany, produced in collaboration with the Zetkin Forum for Social Research and International Research Centre DDR (IFDDR). We have published two previous studies with IFDDR, one on the economic history of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) and the other on healthcare in the DDR. The Zetkin Forum is our partner on the European continent, named after both Clara Zetkin (1857–1933), whose work contributed to the creation of International Working Women’s Day, and her son Maxim Zetkin (1883–1965), a surgeon who helped build the new healthcare system in the Soviet Union, fought as part of the International Brigades in defence of the Spanish Republic (1931–1939), and became a leading physician in the DDR.

Interrupted Emancipation traces the struggles of socialist women in East Germany in various women’s platforms and within the state structures themselves. These women – such as Katharina ‘Käthe’ Kern, Hilde Benjamin, Lykke Aresin, Helga E. Hörz, Grete Groh-Kummerlöw, and Herta Kuhrig – fought to build an egalitarian legal order, develop socialist policies for childcare and eldercare, and bring women into leadership positions in both economic and political institutions. These programmes were not designed merely to improve the welfare and wellbeing of women, but also to transform social life, social hierarchies, and social consciousness. As Hilde Benjamin, the DDR’s minister of justice from 1953 to 1967, explained, it was essential that laws not only provide a framework to guarantee and enforce social rights, but that they also ‘achieve further progress in the development of socialist consciousness’.

Women entered the workforce in large numbers, fought for better family planning (including abortions), and demanded the dignity that they deserved. Interrupted Emancipations teaches us how so much was achieved in such a short time (a mere forty years). Leaders like Helga Hörz argued for women’s entry into the workforce not merely to enhance their incomes, but to ensure the possibility of women’s participation in public life. However, changes did not take place at the speed required. In December 1961, the politburo of the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) condemned the ‘fact that a totally insufficient percentage of women and girls exercise middle and managerial functions’, blaming, in part, ‘the underestimation of the role of women in socialist society that still exists among many – especially men, including leading party, state, economic, and trade union functionaries’. To transform this reality, women set up committees in workplaces as well as housewives’ brigades to build mass struggles that fought to win society over to women’s emancipation.

The destruction of the DDR in the 1990s and its incorporation into West Germany led to the erosion of the gains socialist women had made. Today, in Germany, these socialist policies no longer remain, nor do mass struggles retain the level of vitality that they achieved in the four decades of the DDR. That is why the dossier is called Interrupted Emancipation, perhaps a reflection of the authors’ hope and conviction that this dynamic can be brought back to life.

Gisela Steineckert was one of the women who benefitted from the transformations that took place in the DDR, where she became a celebrated writer and worked to develop the cultural sector. In her poem ‘In the Evening’, she asks, is the struggle worth it? Without much pause, she answers: ‘the heart of the dreamer is always overly full’. The necessity of a better world is a sufficient answer.

In the evening, our dreams rest their heads against the moon,
asking with a deep sigh if the struggle is even worth it.
Everyone knows someone who suffers, suffers more than anyone should.
Oh, and the heart of the dreamer is always overly full.

In the evening the mockers come, a smile on their lips.
Belittle our every asset, turn pounds into chips.
They like to come at us with their lines, no one’s spared it.
Oh, and they advise us: Nothing was worth it.

In the evening, the sceptics come with creased faces,
leaf through old letters, don’t trust our words.
They stay away from it all, age ahead of their time.
Oh, and their pain and suffering are sublime.

In the evening, the fighters take off their boots,
eat dinner with relish, hammer three nails into the roof.
They want to contend with half a book, fall asleep at the end of a line,
amid captured weapons, next to red wine.

The post The Struggle for Women’s Emancipation Will Always Be Worth It first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Vijay Prashad.

]]> https://www.radiofree.org/2024/03/21/the-struggle-for-womens-emancipation-will-always-be-worth-it/feed/ 0 465416 https://www.radiofree.org/2024/03/16/iranian-religious-scholar-womens-rights-activist-arrested-husband-says/ https://www.radiofree.org/2024/03/16/iranian-religious-scholar-womens-rights-activist-arrested-husband-says/#respond Sat, 16 Mar 2024 16:10:08 +0000 https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-vasmaghi-arrest-hijab/32864402.html

The Iranian government "bears responsibility" for the physical violence that led to the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman who died in police custody in 2022, and for the brutal crackdown on largely peaceful street protests that followed, a report by a United Nations fact-finding mission says.

The report, issued on March 8 by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, said the mission “has established the existence of evidence of trauma to Ms. Amini’s body, inflicted while in the custody of the morality police."

It said the mission found the "physical violence in custody led to Ms. Amini’s unlawful death.... On that basis, the state bears responsibility for her unlawful death.”

Amini was arrested in Tehran on September 13, 2022, while visiting the Iranian capital with her family. She was detained by Iran's so-called "morality police" for allegedly improperly wearing her hijab, or hair-covering head scarf. Within hours of her detention, she was hospitalized in a coma and died on September 16.

Her family has denied that Amini suffered from a preexisting health condition that may have contributed to her death, as claimed by the Iranian authorities, and her father has cited eyewitnesses as saying she was beaten while en route to a detention facility.

The fact-finding report said the action “emphasizes the arbitrary character of Ms. Amini’s arrest and detention, which were based on laws and policies governing the mandatory hijab, which fundamentally discriminate against women and girls and are not permissible under international human rights law."

"Those laws and policies violate the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of religion or belief, and the autonomy of women and girls. Ms. Amini’s arrest and detention, preceding her death in custody, constituted a violation of her right to liberty of person,” it said.

The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran hailed the findings and said they represented clear signs of "crimes against humanity."

“The Islamic republic’s violent repression of peaceful dissent and severe discrimination against women and girls in Iran has been confirmed as constituting nothing short of crimes against humanity,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the center.

“The government’s brutal crackdown on the Women, Life, Freedom protests has seen a litany of atrocities that include extrajudicial killings, torture, and rape. These violations disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in society, women, children, and minority groups,” he added.

The report also said the Iranian government failed to “comply with its duty” to investigate the woman’s death promptly.

“Most notably, judicial harassment and intimidation were aimed at her family in order to silence them and preempt them from seeking legal redress. Some family members faced arbitrary arrest, while the family’s lawyer, Saleh Nikbaht, and three journalists, Niloofar Hamedi, Elahe Mohammadi, and Nazila Maroufian, who reported on Ms. Amini’s death were arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to imprisonment,” it added.

Amini's death sparked mass protests, beginning in her home town of Saghez, then spreading around the country, and ultimately posed one of the biggest threats to Iran's clerical establishment since the foundation of the Islamic republic in 1979. At least 500 people were reported killed in the government’s crackdown on demonstrators.

The UN report said "violations and crimes" under international law committed in the context of the Women, Life, Freedom protests include "extrajudicial and unlawful killings and murder, unnecessary and disproportionate use of force, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, torture, rape, enforced disappearances, and gender persecution.

“The violent repression of peaceful protests and pervasive institutional discrimination against women and girls has led to serious human rights violations by the government of Iran, many amounting to crimes against humanity," the report said.

The UN mission acknowledged that some state security forces were killed and injured during the demonstrations, but said it found that the majority of protests were peaceful.

The mission stems from the UN Human Rights Council's mandate to the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran on November 24, 2022, to investigate alleged human rights violations in Iran related to the protests that followed Amini's death.

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

In the annual State of the Union address, Biden came out swinging from the get-go against Putin and Trump -- whom he called "my predecessor" without mentioning him by name -- and on behalf of Ukraine, as he sought to win over undecided voters ahead of November’s election.

The March 7 address to a joint session of Congress this year carried greater significance for the 81-year-old Biden as he faces a tough reelection in November, mostly likely against Trump. The president, who is dogged by questions about his physical and mental fitness for the job, showed a more feisty side during his hourlong speech, drawing a sharp contrast between himself and Trump on a host of key foreign and domestic issues.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

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Biden denounced Trump for recent remarks about NATO, the U.S.-led defense alliance that will mark its 75th anniversary this year, and compared him unfavorably to former Republican President Ronald Reagan.

"Bowing down to a Russian leader, it is outrageous, dangerous, and unacceptable," Biden said, referring to Trump, as he recalled how Reagan -- who is fondly remembered by older Republicans -- stood up to the Kremlin during the Cold War.

At a campaign rally last month, Trump said that while serving in office he warned a NATO ally he "would encourage" Russia "to do whatever the hell they want" to alliance members who are "delinquent" in meeting defense-spending goals.

The remark raised fears that Trump could try to pull the United States out of NATO should he win the election in November.

Biden described NATO as "stronger than ever" as he recognized Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in the audience. Earlier in the day, Sweden officially became the 32nd member of NATO, ending 200 years of nonalignment. Sweden applied to join the defense alliance after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Finland became a NATO member last year.

Biden called on Congress to pass a Ukraine aid bill to help the country fend off a two-year-old Russian invasion. He warned that should Russia win, Putin will not stop at Ukraine's border with NATO.

A group of right-wing Republicans in the House of Representatives have for months been holding up a bill that would allocate some $60 billion in critical military, economic, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine as it defends its territory from Russian invaders.

The gridlock in Washington has starved Ukrainian forces of U.S. ammunition and weapons, allowing Russia to regain the initiative in the war. Russia last month seized the eastern city of Avdiyivka, its first victory in more than a year.

"Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself," Biden said.

"My message to President Putin...is simple. We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down," Biden said.

Trump, who has expressed admiration for Putin, has questioned U.S. aid to Ukraine, though he recently supported the idea of loans to the country.

Biden also criticized Trump for the former president's attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, saying those efforts had posed a grave threat to democracy at home.

"You can't love your country only when you win," he said, referring not just to Trump but Republicans in Congress who back the former president's claim that the 2020 election was rigged.

Biden "really strove to distinguish his policies from those of Donald Trump," said Kathryn Stoner, a political-science professor at Stanford University and director of its Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.

By referencing Reagan, Biden was seeking "to appeal to moderate Republicans and independents to remind them that this is what your party was -- standing up to Russia," she told RFE/RL.

The State of the Union address may be the biggest opportunity Biden has to reach American voters before the election. More than 27 million people watched Biden’s speech last year, equivalent to about 17 percent of eligible voters.

Biden's address this year carries greater importance as he faces reelection in November, most likely against Trump. The speech may be the biggest opportunity he has to reach American voters before the election.

Trump won 14 of 15 primary races on March 5, all but wrapping up the Republican nomination for president. Biden beat Trump in 2020 but faces a tough reelection bid amid low ratings.

A Pew Research poll published in January showed that just 33 percent of Americans approve of Biden's job performance, while 65 percent disapprove. Biden's job-approval rating has remained below 40 percent over the past two years as Americans feel the pinch of high inflation and interest rates.

Biden, the oldest U.S. president in history, has been dogged by worries over his age. Two thirds of voters say he is too old to effectively serve another term, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll.

Last month, a special counsel report raised questions about his memory, intensifying concerns over his mental capacity to run the country for four more years.

As a result, Biden's physical performance during the address was under close watch. Biden was animated during the speech and avoided any major gaffes.

"I thought he sounded really strong, very determined and very clear," Stoner said.

Instead of avoiding the subject of his age, Biden took it head on, saying the issue facing our nation "isn’t how old we are, it’s how old our ideas are."

He warned Trump was trying to take the country back to a darker period.

"Some other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution," Biden said, referring to the 77-year-old Trump.

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Papua New Guinea’s national airline flight from Port Moresby to Cairns today was operated by an all female Air Niugini crew in recognition of International Women’s Day.

With the day’s theme of “Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress”, the national airline continues its progress in equal participation for all women within the organisation, whether it be on the ground or in the sky.

The flight was under the command of Captain Beverly Pakii (inset) with First Officer Chantilly Padigaga. and assisted in the cabin by Jarmilah Mileng, Mimijanna Mabone and Magdalene Lapana.

• READ MORE: PNG’s first female pilot to attain Fokker command

In January, Captain Pakii became the first female pilot in Air Niugini and Papua New Guinea to captain a jet aircraft after attaining her command on a Fokker jet aircraft.

With this achievement, it enabled her to command or captain flights on the Air Niugini domestic and international network that are operated by Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 aircraft.

Her first commercial flight was on January 4 this year on a Fokker 100 aircraft flight from Port Moresby to Lae and return.

Republished with permission.

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

Fiji’s Women and Children’s Minister Lynda Tabuya says Pacific island countries need to “strengthen our laws” on online harassment.

Tabuya spoke to RNZ Pacific on the sidelines of the Pacific Women in Power forum taking place in Auckland this week.

She said the issue that she was dealing with — which is allegations of a sex and drug scandal between her and former cabinet minister Aseri Radrodro — was currently with the police.

• READ MORE: Other online bullying reports

“[Police] are investigating it,” she said.

“And it just so happens that a person who was causing this harassment online lives in Sydney,” she said.

She said she was able to get the assistance of Australia’s online safety watchdog to issue the notice to the person to take down the content — images — because it is a crime in Australia.

“If you put up content that is or appears to be the person, so then the person [who published it] needs to take the content down otherwise they can face prosecution,” she said.

‘Grateful for swift action’
“That was the process I followed and I’m grateful to the Safety Commissioner of Australia for the swift action.”

However, she said the situation she found herself in was not exclusive to her.

“It’s me today, it could be someone else tomorrow. It doesn’t have to be a minister or public figure.

“But if you have women in Fiji or across the Pacific who are facing this, and they’re being attacked — especially for populations where there are more people outside of the country than in [the] country.

Tabuya said therefore there was a need for strong policies, not just in Fiji, but across the region.

“You get more attacks from people who live overseas. Women MPs need to reach out to those countries where those people are attacking them live because the laws are much stronger.

“But it’s also a lesson for us within to strengthen our laws so that we can stand up against online bullying.

“The world is unfair and being a woman in politics, we face a lot of unfairness and injustices. But I think it also makes us so much more determined to stand up and be heard,” she added.

Meanwhile, Tabuya is currently the subject of an inquiry by her political party following the sex and drug allegation, the outcome of which has yet to be released.

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.

Listen to the Talking China In Eurasia podcast

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Welcome back to the China In Eurasia Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter tracking China's resurgent influence from Eastern Europe to Central Asia.

I'm RFE/RL correspondent Reid Standish and here's what I'm following right now.

As Huthi rebels continue their assault on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the deepening crisis is posing a fresh test for China’s ambitions of becoming a power broker in the Middle East – and raising questions about whether Beijing can help bring the group to bay.

Finding Perspective: U.S. officials have been asking China to urge Tehran to rein in Iran-backed Huthis, but according to the Financial Times, American officials say that they have seen no signs of help.

Still, Washington keeps raising the issue. In weekend meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bangkok, U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan again asked Beijing to use its “substantial leverage with Iran” to play a “constructive role” in stopping the attacks.

Reuters, citing Iranian officials, reported on January 26 that Beijing urged Tehran at recent meetings to pressure the Huthis or risk jeopardizing business cooperation with China in the future.

There are plenty of reasons to believe that China would want to bring the attacks to an end. The Huthis have disrupted global shipping, stoking fears of global inflation and even more instability in the Middle East.

This also hurts China’s bottom line. The attacks are raising transport costs and jeopardizing the tens of billions of dollars that China has invested in nearby Egyptian ports.

Why It Matters: The current crisis raises some complex questions for China’s ambitions in the Middle East.

If China decides to pressure Iran, it’s unknown how much influence Tehran actually has over Yemen’s Huthis. Iran backs the group and supplies them with weapons, but it’s unclear if they can actually control and rein them in, as U.S. officials are calling for.

But the bigger question might be whether this calculation looks the same from Beijing.

China might be reluctant to get too involved and squander its political capital with Iran on trying to get the Huthis to stop their attacks, especially after the group has announced that it won’t attack Chinese ships transiting the Red Sea.

Beijing is also unlikely to want to bring an end to something that’s hurting America’s interests arguably more than its own at the moment.

U.S. officials say they’ll continue to talk with China about helping restore trade in the Red Sea, but Beijing might decide that it has more to gain by simply stepping back.

Three More Stories From Eurasia

1. ‘New Historical Heights’ For China And Uzbekistan

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev made a landmark three-day visit to Beijing, where he met with Xi, engaged with Chinese business leaders, and left with an officially upgraded relationship as the Central Asian leader increasingly looks to China for his economic future.

The Details: As I reported here, Mirziyoev left Uzbekistan looking to usher in a new era and returned with upgraded diplomatic ties as an “all-weather” partner with China.

The move to elevate to an “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership” from a “comprehensive strategic partnership” doesn’t come with any formal benefits, but it’s a clear sign from Mirziyoev and Xi on where they want to take the relationship between their two countries.

Before going to China for the January 23-25 trip, Mirziyoev signed a letter praising China’s progress in fighting poverty and saying he wanted to develop a “new long-term agenda” with Beijing that will last for “decades.”

Beyond the diplomatic upgrade, China said it was ready to expand cooperation with Uzbekistan across the new energy vehicle industry chain, as well as in major projects such as photovoltaics, wind power, and hydropower.

Xi and Mirzoyoev also spoke about the long-discussed China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, with the Chinese leader saying that work should begin as soon as possible, athough no specifics were offered and there are reportedly still key disputes over how the megaproject will be financed.

2. The Taliban’s New Man In Beijing

In a move that could lay the groundwork for more diplomatic engagement with China, Xi received diplomatic credentials from the Taliban’s new ambassador in Beijing on January 25.

What You Need To Know: Mawlawi Asadullah Bilal Karimi was accepted as part of a ceremony that also received the credential letters of 42 new envoys. Karimi was named as the new ambassador to Beijing on November 24 but has now formally been received by Xi, which is another installment in the slow boil toward recognition that’s under way.

No country formally recognizes the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, but China – along with other countries such as Pakistan, Russia, and Turkmenistan – have appointed their own envoys to Kabul and have maintained steady diplomatic engagement with the group since it returned to power in August 2021.

Formal diplomatic recognition for the Taliban still looks to be far off, but this move highlights China’s strategy of de-facto recognition that could see other countries following its lead, paving the way for formal ties down the line.

3. China’s Tightrope With Iran and Pakistan

Air strikes and diplomatic sparring between Iran and Pakistan raised difficult questions for China and its influence in the region, as I reported here.

Both Islamabad and Tehran have since moved to mend fences, with their foreign ministers holding talks on January 29. But the incident put the spotlight on what China would do if two of its closest partners entered into conflict against one another.

What It Means: The tit-for-tat strikes hit militant groups operating in each other’s territory. After a tough exchange, both countries quickly cooled their rhetoric – culminating in the recent talks held in Islamabad.

And while Beijing has lots to lose in the event of a wider conflict between two of its allies, it appeared to remain quiet, with only a formal offer to mediate if needed.

Abdul Basit, an associate research fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told me this approach reflects how China “shies away from situations like this,” in part to protect its reputation in case it intervenes and then fails.

Michael Kugelman, the director of the Wilson Center's South Asia Institute, added that, despite Beijing’s cautious approach, China has shown a willingness to mediate when opportunity strikes, pointing to the deal it helped broker between Iran and Saudi Arabia in March.

“It looks like the Pakistanis and the Iranians had enough in their relationship to ease tensions themselves,” he told me. “So [Beijing] might be relieved now, but that doesn't mean they won't step up if needed.”

Across The Supercontinent

China’s Odd Moment: What do the fall of the Soviet Union and China's slowing economy have in common? The answer is more than you might think.

Listen to the latest episode of the Talking China In Eurasia podcast, where we explore how China's complicated relationship with the Soviet Union is shaping the country today.

Invite Sent. Now What? Ukraine has invited Xi to participate in a planned “peace summit” of world leaders in Switzerland, Reuters reported, in a gathering tied to the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

Blocked, But Why? China has suspended issuing visas to Lithuanian citizens. Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis confirmed the news and told Lithuanian journalists that “we have been informed about this. No further information has been provided.”

More Hydro Plans: Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Energy and the China National Electric Engineering Company signed a memorandum of cooperation on January 24 to build a cascade of power plants and a new thermal power plant.

One Thing To Watch

There’s no official word, but it’s looking like veteran diplomat Liu Jianchao is the leading contender to become China’s next foreign minister.

Wang Yi was reassigned to his old post after Qin Gang was abruptly removed as foreign minister last summer, and Wang is currently holding roles as both foreign minister and the more senior position of director of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission Office.

Liu has limited experience engaging with the West but served stints at the Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog and currently heads a party agency traditionally tasked with building ties with other communist states.

It also looks like he’s being groomed for the role. He recently completed a U.S. tour, where he met with top officials and business leaders, and has also made visits to the Middle East.

That’s all from me for now. Don’t forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you might have.

Until next time,

Reid Standish

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This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

On 3 October, the homes and offices of over one hundred journalists and researchers across India were raided by the Delhi Police, which is under the jurisdiction of the country’s Ministry of Home Affairs. During this ‘act of sheer harassment and intimidation’, as the Committee to Protect Journalists called it, the Delhi Police raided and interrogated the Tricontinental Research Services (TRS) team. Based in Delhi, TRS is contracted by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research to produce materials on the great processes of our time as they play out in the world’s most populous country, including the struggles of workers and farmers, the women’s movement, and the movement for Dalit emancipation from caste oppression. It would be a dereliction of duty for TRS researchers to ignore these important developments that affect the lives of hundreds of millions of Indians, and yet it is this very focus on issues of national importance that has earned them the ire of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Is it possible to live in the world as a person of conscience and ignore the daily struggles of the people?

At the end of the day, the Delhi Police arrested Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakravarty, both of the media project NewsClick.

During the raid of the TRS office, the Delhi Police seized computers, phones, and hard drives. I very much hope that the Delhi Police investigators will read all of the materials that the TRS team has produced with great care and interest. So that the Delhi Police does not miss any of the important texts that TRS has produced for Tricontinental, here is a reading list for them:

1. The Story of Solapur, India, Where Housing Cooperatives Are Building a Workers’ City (dossier no. 6, July 2018). Balamani Ambaiah Mergu, a maker of beedis (cigarettes), told TRS researchers that she used to ‘stay in a small hut in a slum in Shastri Nagar, Solapur city. When it rained the hut used to leak, and there wouldn’t be a single dry patch inside’. Since 1992, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has campaigned to secure dignified housing for workers in this town in the state of Maharashtra. Since 2001, CITU has been able secure government funds for this purpose and build tens of thousands of houses, a process led by the workers themselves through cooperative housing societies. The workers built ‘a city of the working class alone’, CITU leader Narasayya Adam told TRS.

2. How Kerala Fought the Heaviest Deluge in Nearly a Century (dossier no. 9, October 2018). In the summer of 2018, rain, and subsequent flooding, swept through the southern coastal state of Kerala, impacting 5.4 million of the state’s 35 million residents. TRS researchers documented the flood’s rage, the rescue and relief work of organised volunteers (largely from left formations), and the rehabilitation of both the Left Democratic Front government and various social organisations.

3. India’s Communists and the Election of 2019: Only an Alternative Can Defeat the Right Wing (dossier no. 12, January 2019). To understand the political situation in India in the lead-up to the 2019 parliamentary elections, the TRS team spoke with Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat. Rather than confine her analysis to the electoral or political sphere, Karat discussed the challenges facing the country at a sociological level: ‘Cultures promoted by capitalism and the market promote and glorify individualism and promote individualistic solutions. All these add to the depoliticisation of a whole generation of young people. This is certainly a challenge: how to find the most effective ways of taking our message to the youth’.

4. The Only Answer Is to Mobilise the Workers (dossier no. 18, July 2019). In April–May 2019, the National Democratic Alliance, led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, prevailed in India’s parliamentary elections. In the aftermath of the elections, the TRS team met with CITU President K. Hemalata to talk about the periodic massive strikes that had been taking place in the country, including an annual general strike of nearly 300 million workers. Whereas working-class movements in other countries seemed to be weakened by the breakdown of formal employment and the increasingly precarious nature of work, unions in India displayed resilience. Hemalata explained that ‘the contract workers are very militant’ and that CITU does not distinguish between the demands of contract workers and permanent workers. One of the best examples of this, she said, is the anganwadi (childcare) workers, who – along with Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers – have been on the forefront of many of the major agitations. Both of these sectors – childcare and health care – are dominated by women. ‘Organising working-class women is part of organising the working class’, Hemalata told TRS.

5. The Neoliberal Attack on Rural India (dossier no. 21, October 2019). P. Sainath, one of the most important journalists reporting on rural India and a senior fellow at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, traced the impact of the crises of neoliberal policies and climate catastrophe that are simultaneously imposed on India’s farmers. He documents the work of Kudumbashree, a cooperative made up of 4.5 million women farmers in Kerala, which he calls ‘the greatest gender justice and poverty reduction programme in the world’ (and about whom we will publish a longer study in the coming months compiled by TRS).

6. People’s Polyclinics: The Initiative of the Telugu Communist Movement (dossier no. 25, February 2020). In the Telugu-speaking parts of India (which encompass over 84 million people), doctors affiliated with the communist movement have set up clinics and hospitals – notably the Nellore People’s Polyclinic – to provide medical care to the working class and peasantry. The polyclinics have not only provided care but have also trained medical workers to address public health concerns in rural hinterlands and small towns. This dossier offers a window into the work of left-wing medical personnel whose efforts take place outside the limelight and into the experiments in public health care that seek to undercut the privatisation agenda.

7. One Hundred Years of the Communist Movement in India (dossier no. 32, September 2020). Not long after the October Revolution brought the Tsarist Empire to its knees in 1917, a liberal newspaper in Bombay noted, ‘The fact is Bolshevism is not the invention of Lenin or any man. It is the inexorable product of the economic system which dooms the millions to a life of ill-requited toil in order that a few thousand may revel in luxury’. In other words, the communist movement is the product of the limitations and failures of capitalism. On 17 October 1920, the Communist Party of India was formed alongside scattered communist groups that were emerging in different parts of India. In this brief text, the TRS team documents the role of the communist movement in India over the past century.

8. The Farmers’ Revolt in India(dossier no. 41, June 2021). Between 1995 and 2014, almost 300,000 farmers committed suicide in India – roughly one farmer every 30 minutes. This is largely because of the high prices of inputs and the low prices of their crops, a reality that has been exacerbated by neoliberal agricultural policies since 1991 and their amplification of other crises (including the climate catastrophe). Over the past decade, however, farmers have fought back with major mobilisations across the country led by a range of organisations such as left-wing farmers’ and agricultural workers’ unions. When the government put forward three bills in 2020 to deepen the privatisation of rural India, farmers, agricultural workers, and their families began a massive protest. This dossier is one of the finest summaries of the issues that lie at the heart of these protests.

9. Indian Women on an Arduous Road to Equality (dossier no. 45, October 2021). Patriarchy, with its deep roots in the economy and culture, cannot be defeated by decree. In the face of this reality, this dossier offers a glimpse of the Indian women’s movement for equality and maps the range of struggles pursued by working women across the country to defend democracy, maintain secularism, fight for women’s economic rights, and defeat violence. The dossier closes with the following assessment: ‘The ongoing Indian farmers’ movement, which started before the pandemic and continues to stay strong, offers the opportunity to steer the national discourse towards such an agenda. The tremendous participation of rural women, who travelled from different states to take turns sitting at the borders of the national capital for days, is a historic phenomenon. Their presence in the farmers’ movement provides hope for the women’s movement in a post-pandemic future’.

10. The People’s Steel Plant and the Fight Against Privatisation in Visakhapatnam (dossier no. 55, August 2022). One of my favourite texts produced by the TRS team, this dossier tells the story of the workers of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, who have fought against the government’s attempts to privatise this public steel company. Not much is written about this struggle led by brave steel workers who are mostly forgotten or, if remembered, then maligned. They stand beside the furnaces, rolling the steel out and tempering it, driven by a desire to build better canals for the farmers, to build beams for schools and hospitals, and to build the infrastructure so that their communities can transcend the dilemmas of humanity. If you try to privatise the factory, they sing, ‘Visakha city will turn into a steel furnace, North Andhra into a battlefield… We will defend our steel with our lives’.

11. Activist Research: How the All-India Democratic Women’s Association Builds Knowledge to Change the World (dossier no. 58, November 2022). The dossier on Visakha Steel was built in conversation with steel workers and reflected the evolving methodology of TRS. To sharpen this method, the team met with R. Chandra to discuss how the All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) has used ‘activist research’ in the state of Tamil Nadu. Chandra shows how AIDWA designed surveys, trained local activists to conduct them among local populations, and taught the activists how to assess the results. ‘AIDWA’s members no longer need a professor to help them’, she told TRS. ‘They formulate their own questions and conduct their own field studies when they take up an issue. Since they know the value of the studies, these women have become a key part of AIDWA’s local work, bringing this research into the organisation’s campaigns, discussing the findings in our various committees, and presenting it at our different conferences’. This activist research not only produces knowledge of the particularities of hierarchies that operate in a given place; it also trains the activists to become ‘new intellectuals’ of their struggles and leaders in their communities.

12. The Condition of the Indian Working Class (dossier no. 64, May 2023). In the early days of the pandemic, the Indian government told millions of workers to go back to their homes, mostly in rural areas. Many of them walked thousands of kilometres under the burning hot sun, terrible stories of death and despair following their caravan. This dossier emerged out of a long-term interest in cataloguing the situation of India’s workers, whose precariousness was revealed in the early days of the pandemic. The last section of the dossier reflects on their struggles: ‘Class struggle is not the invention of unions or of workers. It is a fact of life for labour in the capitalist system. … In August 1992, textile workers in Bombay took to the streets in their undergarments, declaring that the new order would leave them in abject poverty. Their symbolic gesture continues to reflect the current reality of Indian workers in the twenty-first century: they have not surrendered in the face of the rising power of capital. They remain alive to the class struggle’.

The Delhi Police investigators who took the material from the TRS office have each of these twelve dossiers in hand. I recommend that they print them and share them with the rest of the force, including with Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora. If the Delhi Police is interested, I would be happy to develop a seminar on our materials for them.

Study and struggle shaped the Indian freedom movement. Gandhi, for instance, read voraciously and even translated Plato’s The Apology into Gujarati, rooted in the belief that reading and study sharpened his sense not only of how to struggle but how to build a better world.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Vijay Prashad.

“We are deeply worried by the disappearance of Viktoria Roshchina, who has been missing for over two months after planning to go on a reporting trip in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “CPJ stands in solidarity with other organizations calling on Russian authorities and anyone with information on her whereabouts to come forward at once. Journalists must be able to freely report on the invasion without retaliation.”

Roshchina, who planned to travel to the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine via Russia to report on the situation there, left Ukraine for Poland on July 25 and was expected to reach the occupied territories three days later. 

She has been missing since August 3, and her current location is unknown, according to a statement by global non-profit organization International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) and Sevgil Musaieva, the chief editor of Ukrainska Pravda, an independent Ukrainian news website that Roshchina works with.

On August 3, Roshchina told her sister that she made it through days of border checks but did not share her location, Musaieva told CPJ, adding that Ukraine’s SBU security service has since told Roshchina’s family that Russian forces captured her.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t know where she went, how she crossed the border with Russia, or where she last got in touch,” Musaieva said. “If we had known at least something, it would have greatly simplified this search.”

Roshchina’s family reported her missing to the Ukrainian authorities on August 12 and filed an official missing case on September 21. CPJ’s emails to the SBU and the Russian Ministry of Defense received no response.

Musaieva told CPJ that Roshchina was not on editorial assignment for Ukrainska Pravda, “but she asked what topics we could theoretically be interested in.” Roshchina is a freelance reporter who has been covering the war in Ukraine for several Ukrainian media outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda, regional news website Novosti Donbassa, and privately owned news website Censor.net. 

In March 2022, Roshchina was detained by Russian forces for 10 days while reporting in southeastern Ukraine. That same month, Russian forces in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporozhye region fired on her vehicle.

Russian forces have detained multiple Ukrainian journalists since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The whereabouts of former journalist Iryna Levchenko, missing since early May 2023, and of journalist Dmytro Khilyuk, detained in early March 2022, are still unknown.

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

The post Ambassador of Israeli Crimes: This is How Gilad Erdan Become a Defender of Women’s Rights in Iran appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ramzy Baroud.

The Indonesia Art Movement has collaborated with the Monj Hen Wani Community and environmental advocates in Papua to organise the “Arumbay Tonotwiyat” — the Women’s Forest People’s Party.

The event took place beneath the lush canopy of Enggros village’s mangrove forest Abepura District, Jayapura City last weekend.

Arumbay Tonotwiyat was a multifaceted celebration that blended art, culture and environmental conservation.

• READ MORE: Other Papuan environment reports

This gathering was a tribute to nature and the preservation of cultural heritage.

It was also a commitment to fostering harmony between humanity and the natural world.

Rumah Bakau Jayapura, Kampung Dongeng Jayapura, Forum Indonesia Muda Jayapura, Sangga Uniyap, and representatives from Cenderawasih University and ISBI Tanah Papua, and Papua Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) supported the event.

The “forest party” engaged a wide range of participants, including children, teenagers, and adults.

Beach clean-up
The event started with a beach clean-up initiative at Cibery Beach, organised by Petronela.

This cleanup effort was a “demonstration of environmental love”, said the organisers.

It acknowledged the persistent issue of marine debris washing ashore during the rainy season.

Following the cleanup, participants were treated to a tour of Youtefa Bay, where they witnessed a performance by children from Tobati-Enggros village.

This performance depicted the story of a mangrove forest tainted by garbage and waste originating from Nafri Village, Hamadi Beach, and the Acai River.

Subsequently, the participants were guided to the Women’s Forest in Enggros, an area accessible only to women.

Here, women sought food sources to meet their household needs while also sharing their domestic concerns.

Women’s Forest ‘off-limits’
The Women’s Forest is off-limits to men and any breach of this custom incurs penalties, typically in the form of jewelry or other items.

Mama Ani — “Mother Ani” — explained that men were not permitted to enter the forest while women were foraging for food, as women in the forest swam naked.

Within the mangrove forest, women typically gathered clams, crabs, shrimps, and fish as sources of sustenance.

However, men can enter the forest in the absence of women, usually in search of dried mangrove wood for firewood.

Orgenes Meraudje, the former head of Enggros Village and a prominent community leader, said women also visited the Women’s Forest to share their domestic experiences.

However, these stories remained within the forest, not to be brought back home.

For the women of Enggros-Tobati beach, the forest holds sacred significance, and they foraged unclothed for their household necessities.

Protecting Women’s Forest
Yehuda Hamokwarong, a lecturer at Cenderawasih University who attended the event, stressed the importance of protecting the Women’s Forest.

“The forest served as an educational hub, imparting knowledge and survival skills to Enggros-Tobati women, encompassing practical skills, ethics, and morals,” she said.

“The Women’s Forest represented not only the lungs of the world but also a profound emblem of feminine identity.”

In addition to the Women’s Forest, there is a designated area called “para-para”, a sort of hall exclusive for men, and women were prohibited from entering.

Any woman entering this area would face customary fines.

Republished with permission.

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

Auckland Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson welcomed a large crowd on Suffrage Day yesterday to celebrate at a memorial to mark 130 years of women in Aotearoa New Zealand having the right to vote.

Speakers included Challen Wilson, a National Council of Women member and great granddaughter of Mere Te Tai Mangakāhia; Isabelle Lloydd, winner of the NCW high school speech competition; and Joanna Maskell of Te Rōpū Wāhine Auckland Council’s Women’s Network.

New Zealand made history on 19 September 1893 by becoming the first self-governing country to grant women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

• READ MORE: Other Suffrage Day reports

This great leap forward for gender equality was a result of decades of tireless activism by suffragettes across the country who fought for the women’s right to vote and shaped the future for women across the motu (country).

In Auckland, influential wāhine such as Kate Sheppard, Mary Ann Müller and Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia, among others, led the charge for women’s suffrage.

Auckland Council has encourage people to celebrate the suffragette movement’s enduring legacy with a variety of public art pieces, exhibitions and events that “pay tribute to the fearless advocacy of our suffragettes”, said a statement.

The event took place in Te Hā O Hine Place where the walls are decorated with the iconic Women’s Suffrage Mural by Jan Morrison and Claudia Pond Eyley.

Created in 1993 to mark the centenary of women voting, the mural is made up of 2000 coloured tiles mounted onto the sides of Te Hā O Hine Place stairs as 12 separate mosaic panels in central Auckland.

At Monte Cecelia Park in Hillsborough, is 1001 Spheres, a new piece of public art dedicated to gender equality in New Zealand.

This interactive stainless-steel sculpture references a quote from Kate Sheppard: “We are tired of having a ‘sphere’ doled out to us and of being told that anything outside that sphere is ‘unwomanly’”.

Created by artist Chiara Corbelletto, the sculpture celebrates the contribution of women in all spheres of life and is an expression of infinite possibilities.

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

Auckland Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson welcomed a large crowd on Suffrage Day yesterday to celebrate at a memorial to mark 130 years of women in Aotearoa New Zealand having the right to vote.

Speakers included Challen Wilson, a National Council of Women member and great granddaughter of Mere Te Tai Mangakāhia; Isabelle Lloydd, winner of the NCW high school speech competition; and Joanna Maskell of Te Rōpū Wāhine Auckland Council’s Women’s Network.

New Zealand made history on 19 September 1893 by becoming the first self-governing country to grant women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

• READ MORE: Other Suffrage Day reports

This great leap forward for gender equality was a result of decades of tireless activism by suffragettes across the country who fought for the women’s right to vote and shaped the future for women across the motu (country).

In Auckland, influential wāhine such as Kate Sheppard, Mary Ann Müller and Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia, among others, led the charge for women’s suffrage.

Auckland Council has encourage people to celebrate the suffragette movement’s enduring legacy with a variety of public art pieces, exhibitions and events that “pay tribute to the fearless advocacy of our suffragettes”, said a statement.

The event took place in Te Hā O Hine Place where the walls are decorated with the iconic Women’s Suffrage Mural by Jan Morrison and Claudia Pond Eyley.

Created in 1993 to mark the centenary of women voting, the mural is made up of 2000 coloured tiles mounted onto the sides of Te Hā O Hine Place stairs as 12 separate mosaic panels in central Auckland.

At Monte Cecelia Park in Hillsborough, is 1001 Spheres, a new piece of public art dedicated to gender equality in New Zealand.

This interactive stainless-steel sculpture references a quote from Kate Sheppard: “We are tired of having a ‘sphere’ doled out to us and of being told that anything outside that sphere is ‘unwomanly’”.

Created by artist Chiara Corbelletto, the sculpture celebrates the contribution of women in all spheres of life and is an expression of infinite possibilities.

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

The post The Downward Trajectory of Women’s Rights appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Lawrence Davidson.

The post The Downward Trajectory of Women’s Rights appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Lawrence Davidson.

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Aotearoa, the longest running women’s peace group in New Zealand, has called on the Japanese government to change its plan to release treated nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station into the Pacific Ocean.

The protest comes as Pacific leaders remain undecided over the controversial — and widely condemned — Japanese move as reports suggest the start of the wastewater release could begin in the next few days.

“Releasing more radioactive materials is a wilful act of harm that will spread further radioactive contamination into the global environment,”said WILPF in its protest letter sent to Japanese Ambassador Ito Koichi last weekend.

• READ MORE: Uncertainty remains in Pacific as Japan due to make Fukushima decision
• Other Fukushima reports

“The treated water contains tritium, which cannot be removed. Tritium will be dumped into the ocean for several decades.

“There has been no assessment of future biological impacts. Nor has there been a review of less expensive and safer alternatives.”

An RNZ Pacific report said today that the past, present and future Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) chairs — known as “the Troika” — had not decided if they were for or against the imminent discharge.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu, this week has been urged to call on Japan to drop plans for the wastewater release.

Accident reminder
WILPF reminded the Japanese government in its protest letter that after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which caused the accident at the power station, the radioactive contaminated water was treated by a multi-nuclide removal system (ALPS) and stored in more than 1000 tanks on the power plant site.

It also reminded Tokyo of its pledge about Fukushima at the time.

The Japanese government and the operating company, TEPCO, stated that this water would not be disposed of in any way without the understanding of the concerned parties and would be stored on land.

The London Convention, which Japan ratified in 1980, strictly regulates the dumping of radioactive waste into the ocean.

“Therefore,” said the protest letter, “the release of treated water is a violation of international law.

“Such an action would also damage the trust between Japan and its neighbours and the Pacific Islands.”

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

World football’s top dog has completed his tour of the Pacific while in the region for the FIFA Women’s World Cup co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino travelled in his private jet to New Caledonia on Tuesday, the final nation or territory of the 11-member Oceania Football Confederation.

In Noumea he inaugurated a new headquarters for the New Caledonian Football Association, built with support from the FIFA Forward development programme, and said the proposed Oceania Professional League would give players the chance to follow in the footsteps of Kanak Christian Karembeu who helped France win the 1998 World Cup.

• READ MORE: FIFA Women’s Football World Cup a ‘massive celebration’ in New Zealand
• Other FIFA Women’s World Cup reports

As well as the strongest nations in the region — New Zealand, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji — Infantino has travelled to Tonga, Cook Islands, Samoa and American Samoa, becoming the first-ever FIFA boss to visit those countries.

In Honiara on Monday, Infantino described Solomon Islands as “the Brazil of Oceania” because of its passion for football.

“This is a football crazy country and together with the government and those at the Solomon Islands Football Federation . . . we want to provide an opportunity through football for young girls and boys of this country to fulfil their dreams,” he said.

Before flying to Honiara, Infantino was in Port Moresby where he opened the new headquarters of the Papua New Guinea Football Association and met Prime Minister James Marape.

Exhibition matches
As in Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and elsewhere, Infantino was involved in an exhibition match between a FIFA Legends’ Select and the local legends’ XI.

During his tour of the Pacific, he has opened and named new facilities and met with political and football leaders.

He has highlighted the love of football in the region and praised the new facilities and local officials.

There were no new announcements of money from FIFA but Infantino’s visit has somewhat reinforced the importance of Oceania to FIFA, its smallest confederation.

Infantino stressed the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 was being celebrated in the whole of Oceania.

“The ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup is the most inclusive and greatest ever because it belongs to the entire Pacific region, and it is inspiring people all over the world,” he said.

During the World Cup, FIFA high performance specialist April Heinrichs told a workshop held in Wellington, New Zealand, that there was potential in the Pacific.

“I think we can have an OFC country, including New Zealand, that qualifies for the FIFA U-17 World Cup more consistently,” the former United States international said.

• The World Cup final is on Sunday evening in Sydney with Spain playing the winner of tonight’s Australia and England semifinal.

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.

On Sunday, August 13, Taliban intelligence agents summoned Omar, a journalist at the independent broadcaster TOLO News, to the intelligence service’s provincial headquarters in Kandahar and detained him, according to his employer, the local Afghanistan Journalists’ Center nonprofit, and a local journalist familiar with the situation who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation by the Taliban. Authorities accused him of working with media outlets operating from exile.

CPJ could not immediately determine Omar’s whereabouts as of Tuesday evening.

Also on Sunday, intelligence agents detained freelance journalist Wahidurahman Afghanmal outside the Kandahar Press Club, and questioned him about his work and whether he had worked for exiled media groups, according to the journalists’ center and another local journalist who spoke with CPJ on the condition of anonymity, fearing Taliban reprisal. Authorities released Afghanmal on bail Monday evening.

Separately, the Taliban Directorate of Information and Culture in Helmand province recently announced that it had banned women’s voices from being featured in commercials or any other programs aired by the province’s media outlets, according to a journalist in Helmand who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal, and the U.S. Congress-funded outlet Radio Azadi. The ban went into effect on July 21, according to those sources.

Officials have threatened to revoke outlets’ licenses and shut down their operations if they air women’s voices, the journalist said.

“The detention of Afghan journalists Ataullah Omar and Wahidurahman Afghanmal, as well as the latest discriminatory policy against women being featured in broadcasts in Helmand province, show there is no let-up in the Taliban’s repression after two years in power,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Kuala Lumpur. “Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all detained journalists and allow the media to report freely.”

Last week, authorities detained three other journalists over their alleged links to media outlets operating from exile.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told CPJ via messaging app that journalists have not been targeted for their work but had been detained “to be given guidance on certain issues and will be released afterwards.” He did not specify the reason for Omar’s detention.

Since the fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021, the Taliban’s repression of the Afghan media has worsened. On the second anniversary of the group’s return to power, CPJ called on the Taliban to stop its relentless campaign of intimidation and abide by its promise to protect journalists in Afghanistan.

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

Photograph Source: Steffen Prößdorf – CC BY-SA 4.0

FIFA is a funny organisation. Mafia-run, obscenely corrupt, it governs the most popular game on the planet with a shameless, muscular vigour that must make other criminal enterprises green with envy. But even its members must find the curious limitations to viewing matches of the 2023 Women’s World Cup being held in Australia and New Zealand odd, especially given the organisation’s efforts to promote the appeal of the game.

Billed as the most popular women’s tournament ever, Australians have been rationed in their share of viewable matches. A mere 15 matches are available from the free-to-air service on Channel Seven. If you do fork out for a subscription to the extortionists at Optus Sport, then you can view all 64 matches for a monthly fee of A$24.99. Existing Optus customers have the pleasure of viewing the matches at the cost $A6.99.

Those attending in person have not disappointed the organisers, and figures have been supremely healthy in both countries, with Australia doing particularly well. But the broadcasting pay wall has baffled the supporters of various national sides.

When a very entertaining Nigeria advanced to the knockout stages of the tournament, supporters in Australia found their options for viewing the match against England spare. “Many people have been looking forward to watching the game with England, but not everybody can afford to pay for Optus Sports,” the complained the frustrated chairperson of the Nigerian Association of Western Australia, Dr Pedrus Eweama. “But there’s a limit to what we can do, it’s just part of policy … it’s very disappointing.”

Expatriates from other countries living in Australia were also bemused. A UK citizen living in Melbourne, Alex Read, found it odd that his friends and family back in the old country could enjoy all the games on free to air platforms, live television or the BBC iPlayer. “I get that football is a bigger sport in the UK than it may be in Australia, but that should be irrelevant. You’re not going to show the Olympics and not show the whole thing for live view.” Well, not unless you are in Australia, where broadcasting is stunningly tribal.

True to form, supporters of the Australian side, the Matildas, have little reason to be concerned about any impending paywall. Channel Seven has rights to broadcast all their matches without charge. But their broadcasting has been, for the most part, ordinary, platitudinous and stifled by cliché. During the Australia-France quarterfinal held in Brisbane, a remark from one of the mathematically challenged commentators stood out: “There have been 50,000 eyes looking on tonight.” Given the presence of 50,000 attendees, it can only be presumed that 25,000 one-eyed, Cyclopean wonders had stumbled their way into the Suncorp Stadium to witness the Australian victory after a brutally draining penalty shootout.

The viewing arrangements meant that only subscribers could watch the England-Colombia quarterfinal being held in Sydney later in the evening, which furnished those in attendance a thrilling 2-1 spectacle with the England Lionesses prevailing. The next day, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation made footnote references to the match, focusing with almost exclusive adulation on the achievements of the home side’s efforts against France. That England remains a firm favourite to win the tournament has been all but scratched from the narrative.

For sports journalist and presenter Lucy Zelić, this seemed to conform to a disturbing pattern in the field of football broadcasting down under. “From the technological disaster with SBS and Optus in 2018, to the limited offering of free-to-air matches for the 2019 Women’s World Cup, history has had an unfunny way of repeating itself.” The limited offerings on Australian soil were all the more galling given that each of the 32 countries being represented at the tournament “has a proud community living in Australia.”

None of this was helped by the fact that the Women’s World Cup, despite being held on home soil, was not placed on a protected list of salient sporting tournaments that prevent them from falling into the cosmos of pay television. Such Australian anti-siphoning laws, passed in 1992, were not used to cover the tournament as it was deemed, according to Zelić, not “to be ‘nationally important’ or ‘culturally significant’ for the Australian public”. Those occupying the portfolio of Communications Minister have been far from sharp in that regard.

The problem was a microcosm of the broader challenges of broadcasting that seemed to have plagued this tournament. Even before a ball was kicked, a spat arose between the head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, and public service providers in five European countries over the cost of broadcasting rights. Infantino was particularly miffed by offerings of US$1 million and US$10 million for the rights, compared with US$100 million to US$200 million for the men’s tournament.

The other tournament story that seemed to suck up the oxygen of discussion has been the cultish obsession with Sam Kerr’s injured calf muscle, which has come to resemble the miracle bone of a medieval saint. Was the injury mild, severe, or even crippling? The delicate wonder has featured in press conferences, cod psychology and the circles of endless punditry. Seen as one of the most potent strikers in women’s football, the Australian has been confined to meandering on the sidelines and releasing words of undisclosed wisdom to her teammates like a sagacious witchdoctor.

In the match against France, Kerr finally made a lengthier show, though the weight of the team in the tournament has been borne with exuberant audacity largely by the likes of Caitlin Foord and Mary Fowler. Because of their efforts, and those of goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, the team has reached their first World Cup semi-final. At least Channel Seven will broadcast it, if poorly.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Binoy Kampmark.

Billed as the most popular women’s tournament ever, Australians have been rationed in their share of viewable matches.  A mere 15 matches are available from the free-to-air service on Channel Seven.  If you do fork out for a subscription to the extortionists at Optus Sport, then you can view all 64 matches for a monthly fee of A$24.99.  Existing Optus customers have the pleasure of viewing the matches at the cost $A6.99.

Those attending in person have not disappointed the organisers, and figures have been supremely healthy in both countries, with Australia doing particularly well.  But the broadcasting pay wall has baffled the supporters of various national sides.

When a very entertaining Nigeria advanced to the knockout stages of the tournament, supporters in Australia found their options for viewing the match against England spare.  “Many people have been looking forward to watching the game with England, but not everybody can afford to pay for Optus Sports,” complained the frustrated chairperson of the Nigerian Association of Western Australia, Dr Pedrus Eweama.  “But there’s a limit to what we can do, it’s just part of policy … it’s very disappointing.”

Expatriates from other countries living in Australia were also bemused.  A UK citizen living in Melbourne, Alex Read, found it odd that his friends and family back in the old country could enjoy all the games on free to air platforms, live television or the BBC iPlayer.  “I get that football is a bigger sport in the UK than it may be in Australia, but that should be irrelevant.  You’re not going to show the Olympics and not show the whole thing for live view.”  Well, not unless you are in Australia, where broadcasting is stunningly tribal.

True to form, supporters of the Australian side, the Matildas, have little reason to be concerned about any impending paywall.  Channel Seven has rights to broadcast all their matches without charge.  But their broadcasting has been, for the most part, ordinary, platitudinous and stifled by cliché.  During the Australia-France quarterfinal held in Brisbane, a remark from one of the mathematically challenged commentators stood out: “There have been 50,000 eyes looking on tonight.”  Given the presence of 50,000 attendees, it can only be presumed that 25,000 one-eyed, Cyclopean wonders had stumbled their way into the Suncorp Stadium to witness the Australian victory after a brutally draining penalty shootout.

The viewing arrangements meant that only subscribers could watch the England-Colombia quarterfinal being held in Sydney later in the evening, which furnished those in attendance a thrilling 2-1 spectacle with the England Lionesses prevailing.  The next day, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation made footnote references to the match, focusing with almost exclusive adulation on the achievements of the home side’s efforts against France. That England remains a firm favourite to win the tournament has been all but scratched from the narrative.

For sports journalist and presenter Lucy Zelić, this seemed to conform to a disturbing pattern in the field of football broadcasting down under.  “From the technological disaster with SBS and Optus in 2018, to the limited offering of free-to-air matches for the 2019 Women’s World Cup, history has had an unfunny way of repeating itself.”  The limited offerings on Australian soil were all the more galling given that each of the 32 countries being represented at the tournament “has a proud community living in Australia.”

None of this was helped by the fact that the Women’s World Cup, despite being held on home soil, was not placed on a protected list of salient sporting tournaments that prevent them from falling into the cosmos of pay television.  Such Australian anti-siphoning laws, passed in 1992, were not used to cover the tournament as it was deemed, according to Zelić, not “to be ‘nationally important’ or ‘culturally significant’ for the Australian public”.  Those occupying the portfolio of Communications Minister have been far from sharp in that regard.

The problem was a microcosm of the broader challenges of broadcasting that seemed to have plagued this tournament.  Even before a ball was kicked, a spat arose between the head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, and public service providers in five European countries over the cost of broadcasting rights.  Infantino was particularly miffed by offerings of US$1 million and US$10 million for the rights, compared with US$100 million to US$200 million for the men’s tournament.

The other tournament story that seemed to suck up the oxygen of discussion has been the cultish obsession with Sam Kerr’s injured calf muscle, which has come to resemble the miracle bone of a medieval saint.  Was the injury mild, severe, or even crippling?  The delicate wonder has featured in press conferences, cod psychology and the circles of endless punditry.  Seen as one of the most potent strikers in women’s football, the Australian has been confined to meandering on the sidelines and releasing words of undisclosed wisdom to her teammates like a sagacious witchdoctor.

In the match against France, Kerr finally made a lengthier show, though the weight of the team in the tournament has been borne with exuberant audacity largely by the likes of Caitlin Foord and Mary Fowler.  Because of their efforts, and those of goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, the team has reached their first World Cup semi-final.  At least Channel Seven will broadcast it, if poorly.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Binoy Kampmark.

A scene examination is continuing at a construction site in central Auckland after a fatal shooting there shocked the city yesterday morning.

The gunman, 24-year-old Matu Tangi Matua Reid, was on home detention but allowed to work at the construction site.

He died at the scene in a shoot-out with police after killing two civilians with a pump-action shotgun. Six others were wounded, including two police officers.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: ‘A sad tinge’ – Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown
• ‘I don’t think that anyone benefits from politicians speculating in a vacuum of facts’ – Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick
• READ MORE:  ‘Deep sorrow’ – PM on Auckland shooting deaths, says no national security risk
• Three dead in Auckland CBD shooting, including gunman, police confirm
• Fatal Auckland shooting: How it unfolded

The horror unfolded on the opening day of the FIFA Women’s Football World Cup in Auckland and a minute’s silence for the shooting victims was held at the first game at Eden Park last night when New Zealand defeated Norway 1-0.

Police officers in high-vis vests have today re-entered the high-rise building on the corner of Queen and Quay streets and at least seven police cars are at the cordoned off site.

A man working on the repairs at nearby Queen’s Wharf told RNZ the rules had been tightened at their site and people entering were being checked.

A commuter said there appeared to be extra security at Britomart Station transit hub this morning but he felt safe.

“It was every emotion yesterday,” he said, but he thought the city had coped well in the aftermath of the ‘shock and horror’ of the morning’s events.”

Brown said he supported Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei’s decision to call for a rahui in the CBD area, and the FIFA fan zone on Quay Street had been closed.

Ngāti Whātua has said this morning that no rahui is in place.

“[The] fan zone was right hard up against the dreadful event and it just didn’t seem to be right to be having a night of celebration right next door to something that had been so horrible,” he said.

“Ngāti Whātua called for, and I supported, a rahui on the area down there so we shut the fan zone and people, with a sad tinge, did go to the game at Eden Park, but with respect.

“They had the one minute’s silence, which was part of our culture and the correct thing to do, and then there was a wonderful game afterwards so, I think … the city took it well.”

‘Good end to dreadful day’
Brown said he had spoken to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins after last night’s match between New Zealand and Norway and they had agreed it was “a very good end to a dreadful day”.

He said FIFA officials had been “very sympathetic” about the shooting.

“They were very understanding, they were very concerned about the impact on the tournament, but also deeply respectful of the losses of — almost innocence — of the people here in Auckland CBD, plus of course the dreadful loss of life from this shocking experience.”

While he had been one of the people raising concerns about ongoing crime issues such as ram raids in Auckland, Brown said he was not thinking about anything on the scale of what occurred yesterday.

“It’s something out of the ordinary and I think this is one random person … and we shouldn’t possibly extrapolate that across the district, but crime on the streets with the ram raids is something which has got to be dealt with.”

Brown had praise for both the police and members of the public regarding how they responded to the unfolding crisis on Thursday morning.

“The police were wonderful, they responded bravely and promptly,” he said.

“People behaved very well considering what an appalling thing had happened.”

Violence like this has no place in city, says Swarbrick
There would be a time for political debate and discussions about how to prevent incidents like yesterday’s shooting, Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick told Morning Report, but that time was not right now.

“I very, very strongly want the message to be here that this violence has absolutely no place in our city or in our country, and we utterly reject it,” she said.

Swarbrick said her thoughts were with the whānau and friends of those who had died as well as those who had been injured, emergency service staff, and the workers who had experienced the traumatic event.

She said questions had been put to police officials at a briefing she attended yesterday, including about how the shooter had obtained a gun without a licence and while he was on home detention.

Swarbrick expected those questions would be answered “in due course” but said it was important the facts were “crystal clear” first.

“I don’t think that anyone benefits from politicians speculating in a vacuum of facts.”

The briefing had made it “very clear that this was a tragic but isolated incident connected to the workplace and that there is no outstanding associated risk”, she said.

Asked whether she believed a broader inquiry was needed to look into the use of home detention, Swarbrick said a number of reports commissioned by successive governments had identified evidence-based policies to address what was a complex issue, but that evidence was often “politically unpalatable”.

The rhetoric and debate around law and order was often reduced to “soundbyte-solutions”, she said, “things that politicians know will not work and oftentimes are contrary to evidence”.

She said New Zealanders deserved evidence-based interventions when it came to tackling crime.

“It is really clear what we have to resource in terms of evidence-based policy but it is the crunchy and the hard stuff which looks meaningfully at prevention, it’s not this knee-jerk ‘tough-on-crime’ nonsense.”

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.

A scene examination is continuing at a construction site in central Auckland after a fatal shooting there shocked the city yesterday morning.

The gunman, 24-year-old Matu Tangi Matua Reid, was on home detention but allowed to work at the construction site.

He died at the scene in a shoot-out with police after killing two civilians with a pump-action shotgun. Six others were wounded, including two police officers.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: ‘A sad tinge’ – Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown
• ‘I don’t think that anyone benefits from politicians speculating in a vacuum of facts’ – Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick
• READ MORE:  ‘Deep sorrow’ – PM on Auckland shooting deaths, says no national security risk
• Three dead in Auckland CBD shooting, including gunman, police confirm
• Fatal Auckland shooting: How it unfolded

The horror unfolded on the opening day of the FIFA Women’s Football World Cup in Auckland and a minute’s silence for the shooting victims was held at the first game at Eden Park last night when New Zealand defeated Norway 1-0.

Police officers in high-vis vests have today re-entered the high-rise building on the corner of Queen and Quay streets and at least seven police cars are at the cordoned off site.

A man working on the repairs at nearby Queen’s Wharf told RNZ the rules had been tightened at their site and people entering were being checked.

A commuter said there appeared to be extra security at Britomart Station transit hub this morning but he felt safe.

“It was every emotion yesterday,” he said, but he thought the city had coped well in the aftermath of the ‘shock and horror’ of the morning’s events.”

Brown said he supported Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei’s decision to call for a rahui in the CBD area, and the FIFA fan zone on Quay Street had been closed.

Ngāti Whātua has said this morning that no rahui is in place.

“[The] fan zone was right hard up against the dreadful event and it just didn’t seem to be right to be having a night of celebration right next door to something that had been so horrible,” he said.

“Ngāti Whātua called for, and I supported, a rahui on the area down there so we shut the fan zone and people, with a sad tinge, did go to the game at Eden Park, but with respect.

“They had the one minute’s silence, which was part of our culture and the correct thing to do, and then there was a wonderful game afterwards so, I think … the city took it well.”

‘Good end to dreadful day’
Brown said he had spoken to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins after last night’s match between New Zealand and Norway and they had agreed it was “a very good end to a dreadful day”.

He said FIFA officials had been “very sympathetic” about the shooting.

“They were very understanding, they were very concerned about the impact on the tournament, but also deeply respectful of the losses of — almost innocence — of the people here in Auckland CBD, plus of course the dreadful loss of life from this shocking experience.”

While he had been one of the people raising concerns about ongoing crime issues such as ram raids in Auckland, Brown said he was not thinking about anything on the scale of what occurred yesterday.

“It’s something out of the ordinary and I think this is one random person … and we shouldn’t possibly extrapolate that across the district, but crime on the streets with the ram raids is something which has got to be dealt with.”

Brown had praise for both the police and members of the public regarding how they responded to the unfolding crisis on Thursday morning.

“The police were wonderful, they responded bravely and promptly,” he said.

“People behaved very well considering what an appalling thing had happened.”

Violence like this has no place in city, says Swarbrick
There would be a time for political debate and discussions about how to prevent incidents like yesterday’s shooting, Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick told Morning Report, but that time was not right now.

“I very, very strongly want the message to be here that this violence has absolutely no place in our city or in our country, and we utterly reject it,” she said.

Swarbrick said her thoughts were with the whānau and friends of those who had died as well as those who had been injured, emergency service staff, and the workers who had experienced the traumatic event.

She said questions had been put to police officials at a briefing she attended yesterday, including about how the shooter had obtained a gun without a licence and while he was on home detention.

Swarbrick expected those questions would be answered “in due course” but said it was important the facts were “crystal clear” first.

“I don’t think that anyone benefits from politicians speculating in a vacuum of facts.”

The briefing had made it “very clear that this was a tragic but isolated incident connected to the workplace and that there is no outstanding associated risk”, she said.

Asked whether she believed a broader inquiry was needed to look into the use of home detention, Swarbrick said a number of reports commissioned by successive governments had identified evidence-based policies to address what was a complex issue, but that evidence was often “politically unpalatable”.

The rhetoric and debate around law and order was often reduced to “soundbyte-solutions”, she said, “things that politicians know will not work and oftentimes are contrary to evidence”.

She said New Zealanders deserved evidence-based interventions when it came to tackling crime.

“It is really clear what we have to resource in terms of evidence-based policy but it is the crunchy and the hard stuff which looks meaningfully at prevention, it’s not this knee-jerk ‘tough-on-crime’ nonsense.”

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.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup kicks off in Auckland tomorrow when co-hosts New Zealand face Norway.

It is the biggest football tournament ever to be hosted in the Oceania region with 32 teams from around the world.

New Zealand is the sole Oceania representative with Papua New Guinea failing in their playoff match early this year. But there is still a Pacific influence in some nations including players with links to Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

• READ MORE: Football for dummies: A bluffer’s guide to the beautiful game
• 2023 Women’s World Cup groups — and the matches

One of those is 20-year-old Australian Mary Fowler, who’s father is from the Republic of Ireland and her mother Nido is from Papua New Guinea.

Football Ferns Grace Jale and Malia Steinmetz also have parents from the Pacific – Jale’s father is Fijian, Steinmetz’s mother hailing from Samoa,

“Trying to connect with my identity and my Samoan roots has been really important, so I think going out there and knowing who I am and having them (my family) being part of me is something I’m really proud of,” Steinmetz told OFC Media.

She is also aware of the positive influence having the World Cup in the Oceania region can be in encouraging kids across the Pacific to get involved.

“I think it’s everything, just to see it, having it on our front doorstep. It’s something I personally had with the U-17 World Cup being here, it influenced me to keep playing, so I know it’s going to reach out across New Zealand and the Pacific.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. An abridged version of a story that first appeared on the Oceania Football Confederations website.

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

A woman who was part of a group kidnapped in Papua New Guinea in February has spoken out after the kidnapping and reported rape of 17 schoolgirls in the same area of Southern Highlands earlier this month.

Cathy Alex, the New Zealand-born Australian academic Bryce Barker and two female researchers, were taken in the Mt Bosavi region and held for ransom.

They were all released when the Papua New Guinea government paid a ransom of US$28,000 to the kidnappers to secure their release.

• LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC WAVES: Cathy Alex’s kidnapping story
• Other PNG kidnapping reports

Alex, who heads the Advancing Women’s Leaders’ Network, said that what the 17 abducted girls had gone through prompted her to speak out, after the country, she believed, had done nothing.

A local said family members of the girls negotiated with the captors and were eventually able to secure their release.

The villagers reportedly paid an undisclosed amount of cash and a few pigs as the ransom.

Alex said she and the other women in her group had feared they would be raped when they were kidnapped.

‘My life preserved’
“My life was preserved even though there was a time where the three of us were pushed to go into the jungle so they could do this to us.

“We chose death over being raped. Maybe the men will not understand, but for a woman or a girl rape is far worse than death.”

Alex said they had had received a commitment that they would not be touched, so the revelations about what happened to the teenage girls was horrifying.

She said her experience gave her some insight into the age and temperament of the kidnappers.

“Young boys, 16 and up, a few others. No Tok Pisin, no English. It’s a generation that’s been out there that has had no opportunities. What is happening in Bosavi is a glimpse, a dark glimpse of where our country is heading to.”

The teenage girls from the most recent kidnapping are now safe and being cared for but they cannot return to their village because it is too dangerous.

Need for focus
Cathy Alex said there was a need for a focus on providing services to the rural areas as soon as possible.

She said people were resilient and could change, as long as the right leadership was provided.

Bosavi is one of the remotest areas in PNG, with no roads and few services

It suffered significant damage during earthquake in 2018.

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.

A woman who was part of a group kidnapped in Papua New Guinea in February has spoken out after the kidnapping and reported rape of 17 schoolgirls in the same area of Southern Highlands earlier this month.

Cathy Alex, the New Zealand-born Australian academic Bryce Barker and two female researchers, were taken in the Mt Bosavi region and held for ransom.

They were all released when the Papua New Guinea government paid a ransom of US$28,000 to the kidnappers to secure their release.

• LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC WAVES: Cathy Alex’s kidnapping story
• Other PNG kidnapping reports

Alex, who heads the Advancing Women’s Leaders’ Network, said that what the 17 abducted girls had gone through prompted her to speak out, after the country, she believed, had done nothing.

A local said family members of the girls negotiated with the captors and were eventually able to secure their release.

The villagers reportedly paid an undisclosed amount of cash and a few pigs as the ransom.

Alex said she and the other women in her group had feared they would be raped when they were kidnapped.

‘My life preserved’
“My life was preserved even though there was a time where the three of us were pushed to go into the jungle so they could do this to us.

“We chose death over being raped. Maybe the men will not understand, but for a woman or a girl rape is far worse than death.”

Alex said they had had received a commitment that they would not be touched, so the revelations about what happened to the teenage girls was horrifying.

She said her experience gave her some insight into the age and temperament of the kidnappers.

“Young boys, 16 and up, a few others. No Tok Pisin, no English. It’s a generation that’s been out there that has had no opportunities. What is happening in Bosavi is a glimpse, a dark glimpse of where our country is heading to.”

The teenage girls from the most recent kidnapping are now safe and being cared for but they cannot return to their village because it is too dangerous.

Need for focus
Cathy Alex said there was a need for a focus on providing services to the rural areas as soon as possible.

She said people were resilient and could change, as long as the right leadership was provided.

Bosavi is one of the remotest areas in PNG, with no roads and few services

It suffered significant damage during earthquake in 2018.

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.

Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) has confirmed it underpaid its women rugby players and still owes them their dues from last year’s World Cup.

In an extraordinary admission of fault, FRU Trustees Board interim chairman Peter Mazey apologised to Fijiana players and acknowledged the women for their “strength and honesty” in highlighting player welfare concerns.

“I can only apologise to the women who represented Fiji so proudly in our Fijiana 15s and Fijiana Drua teams,” Mazey said via a statement late on Friday night.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji rugby reports

He added that the Trustees would be called to meet “early next week to enable us to review everything and correct the situation”.

Mazey said he had “personally contacted” Fijiana captain Sereima Leweniqila “to address the issues” she had raised via social media this week.

Leweniqila’s claims about players not receiving their allowances and payments promised to them was also backed up by other senior players, including Fijiana Drua captain Bitila Tawake and Asinate Severi, daughter Fiji Sevens great and World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee Waisale Serevi.

The FRU refuted the claims on Thursday, saying it had paid what was owed to the players.

However, that turned out to be false after Mazey’s confirmation the women’s team players were in fact owed money.

‘Further investigations’
“Today [Friday], further investigations and evidence received have shown that the women were promised F$300 a day, as claimed, despite the Rugby Allowance policy,” Mazey said.

He said after his discussions with Leweniqilia, he also found out the players who represented Fiji at the 2022 World Cup were also underpaid and did not receive any response from FRU to their queries.

“I must thank all of those great women’s rugby players who had the strength and honesty to come out and bring their rights to the trustees’ attention.

“I am only sorry they were forced to use social media to achieve what is their right due to promises made.”

While it is not entirely clear why the payments were held, Mazey said the Trustees want to meet to the women ruggers “as soon as possible to address all other issues they have raised and to obtain their help in guiding us in the restructuring and the organisation of Fiji Rugby as a professional body moving forward.”

‘Enough is enough’ – Fijiana captain
On Friday, Leweniqila had confirmed to RNZ Pacific she called for FRU Trustees Board to investigate why the women had not been paid what was promised to them during the recent international commitments.

Leweniqila said they were still querying why things were changed when they were told during the one-off Test against the Australian Wallaroos and the Oceania Women’s Rugby Championship that the allowance of $300 per day had been approved.

She said team manager Vela Naucukidi had told them before they left for the two events that each player would receive $300 per day on the tour and $100 while in camp in Fiji.

“I think enough is enough, so we had to speak,” she said.

On Wednesday, the FRU released a statement claiming all dues were paid to the women.

FRU administrator Simione Valenitabua said the only money owed to the players was the $8000 per player promised by the Fijian government.

Valenitabua had said the Fijiana players were paid $100 per day while on tour, according to the pay structure that was in place.

“I do not know who made the blunder to be honest. That’s what the girls are talking about,” Leweniqila said

“Before we left for Australia, our manager had told us that. They did pay. But not the $300.”

RNZ Pacific has reached out to Naucukidi for comment.

Meanwhile, RNZ Pacific asked Valenitabua if reviewing the players’ pay structure was on FRU’s agenda to address future problems.

He said the FRU Trustees were working on reviewing the pay structure.

“[It is] exactly what we are doing but thanks for raising it,” he said.

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.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned this week that Afghanistan continues to face the largest humanitarian crisis in the world today, with a two-day summit in Doha ending without formal recognition of the Taliban government that has ruled the country since August 2021. Since their return to power, the Taliban have cracked down on women’s rights, including restricting access to education and banning women from working with international aid groups. Poverty has skyrocketed in Afghanistan as years of conflict, corruption and international sanctions have battered the economy. We speak with Farzana Elham Kochai, a women’s rights activist who was elected to the Afghan Parliament in 2019 before fleeing the country for safety, and Jumana Abo Oxa, who works with the Greek refugee project Elpida Home helping Afghan women lawmakers find refuge in other countries.

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

While welcoming parts of the Biden administration's newly announced plans to expand refugee resettlement and family reunification parole in the Americas, migrant rights advocates on Thursday warned that provisions restricting the rights of asylum-seekers undermined the policy.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday unveiled sweeping measures to address migration from Latin American and Caribbean nations to the United States ahead of next month's termination of Title 42, a public health order invoked by the Trump and Biden administrations to deport more than 2.7 million asylum-seekers under pretext of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Title 42 is set to expire on May 11 with the end of the Covid-19 national public health emergency. Experts say as many as 10,000-13,000 migrants could arrive at the southern border each day after Title 42 ends.

The administration will open immigration processing centers throughout Latin America, while expanding access to CBP One, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection mobile app through which asylum-seekers can schedule an appointment to present themselves at a port of entry.

U.S. partners, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration, will screen migrants at the processing centers to determine if they are eligible to enter the United States before they travel to the southern border.

Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security is creating a new family reunification parole process for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia.

The U.S. is also doubling the number of refugees from Western Hemisphere nations while continuing to accept up to 30,000 individuals per month from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Haiti as part of an expanded parole process announced earlier this year.

However, the new policy will prohibit asylum-seekers who crossed through a third country on their way to the U.S.-Mexico border, unless they had previously applied for and been denied asylum elsewhere or used CBP One to obtain an appointment at a U.S. point of entry.

"The Biden administration is rightly expanding refugee resettlement from the Americas, an overdue step towards addressing a longstanding gap for people in need of international protection," said Eleanor Acer, senior director of refugee protection at Human Rights First.

"This initiative should swiftly bring refugees to safety and not be used to reduce the resettlement of refugees from other regions," Acer added. "The Biden administration should focus on measures like increasing refugee resettlement and regular pathways and abandon its plan to impose an asylum ban that would be a legal, moral, and political mistake."

The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), a New York-based legal aid organization, summed up the sentiment of numerous advocacy groups, writing that while it "welcomes the expansion of family reunification parole programs and refugee processing in the Americas," it "strongly opposes doing so as a trade-off for limiting the legal rights of people seeking asylum in the United States."

"While today’s announcement recognizes the protection needs of people seeking asylum at the border, the administration's simultaneous pursuit of an asylum ban and other immigration restrictions runs counter to the aim of expanding humanitarian protections," the group added.

IRAP policy director Sunil Varghese said in a statement that "expanding family reunification parole pathways and refugee processing for displaced people in the Americas is long overdue, but we cannot ignore that the Biden administration is proposing a Faustian bargain by simultaneously seeking to implement a Trump-era asylum ban at the U.S-Mexico border, effectively slamming the door shut on countless others in need."

"Framing USRAP as a border management tool risks further politicizing a program already at a crossroads, and should not come at the expense of asylum protections," Varghese added. "There should be more pathways to safety for people in the Americas, not fewer."

IRAP recommends the Biden administration expand its capacity to adjudicate asylum applications, improve the efficiency of the interview and vetting process—including by incorporating video technology—and ensure due process and transparency in refugee processing.

Katharina Obser, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Women's Refugee Commission, an international advocacy group, said in a statement that WRC "welcomes the administration's recognition of the need for more pathways to protection for people displaced in Latin America and the Caribbean."

"However, WRC remains deeply concerned that these measures come at the expense of the ability to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border," she continued. "Although today's announcement suggests more appointments will become available for people seeking asylum using the CBP One application—and WRC supports increasing capacity for asylum processing at ports of entry—the administration should also maintain the right to seek asylum without an appointment for those who cannot wait or cannot use the application."

"Ultimately, the expansion of access to one set of protections—such as resettlement, parole, and family reunification—should not come at the expense of others, such as access to asylum at the border," Obser added. "We had hoped to be able to express more support and optimism about the administration's proposed plans as Title 42 finally comes to a long overdue end. Ultimately, while we welcome additional migration pathways and regional processes, we call on the administration to again reconsider its approach to asylum at the U.S. border."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Brett Wilkins.

• House Republicans approve bill banning transgender athletes in most women’s or girl’s school sports
• Julie Su’s nomination to serve as Labor Secretary faces opposition from Republicans and big business — and maybe some Democrats
• Attorney John Burris files federal civil rights lawsuit against Antioch and its police department
• Attorney Generals in 17 states want a recall of Kia and Hyundai cars because they’re too easy to steal

The post House Republicans vote to ban transgender students from women’s and girl’s school sports; Labor Secretary nominee Julie Su faces Republican opposition at confirmation hearing; Federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Antioch and its police department: The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 20, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.

"Mifepristone remains safe, effective, and AVAILABLE."

However, access to medication abortion remains at "severe risk." That was the message Friday from abortion rights advocates after the United States Supreme Court temporarily blocked a ruling by a Texas federal judge that would effectively end access to mifepristone.

Justice Samuel Alito issued a short order on the high court's "shadow docket" staying until next Wednesday last week's decision by U.S. 5th Circuit Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump who ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 2000 approval of mifepristone—one of two drugs typically used in tandem to induce abortion—was illegal.

Alito, who wrote the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization—the ruling that canceled half a century of federal abortion rights—is assigned to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"While medication abortion remains accessible for now, this case should never have been heard in the first place," NARAL Pro-Choice America president Minni Timmaraju said in a statement. "Nothing about the rulings from the lower courts' Trump-appointed judges had any basis in medical science–both are steeped in reckless disinformation and total disregard for the law. As this case continues, safe and effective medication abortion in all 50 states is at severe risk."

Jenny Ma, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said Friday that "mifepristone will remain available as it has for the last 23 years, for at least five more days."

"This week has created whiplash for healthcare providers and patients—and this order provides cold comfort for a brief few days," Ma added. "But this case is far from over. The Supreme Court must take action next week to stop the chaos unleashed by these extreme decisions."

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court temporarily blocked the part of Kacsmaryk's ruling that would have invalidated the FDA's approval of mifepristone. Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, called Wednesday's ruling "a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"The court rightly found that some claims were filed too late," Northup added, "but that should not distract from the radical assault on the FDA's decision-making authority and the fact that it will wreak havoc on the provision of medication abortion if it stands."

The full Supreme Court next week is expected to consider granting a longer stay of Kacsmaryk's decision.

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, healthcare providers "have been thrown into chaos repeatedly this week, with the accessibility of mifepristone volleying between two federal district courts and a circuit court."

After Friday's stay, NARAL Pro-Choice America asserted:

The people hurt most by these bans and restrictions are those who already face barriers to accessing abortion care—including women; Black, Latina/x, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous people; those working to make ends meet; the LGBTQ+ community; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; people with disabilities, and other historically oppressed communities.

Rachel O'Leary Carmona, executive director at Women's March, said in a statement that "had the Supreme Court refused to act today, the restrictions imposed by the 5th Circuit would have taken effect across the nation. This stay is the bare minimum. The imminent threat to access to mifepristone and abortion care remains."

"Mifepristone has been safe and effective and proven that way for more than 20 years," O'Leary Carmona continued. "There is no doubt about the FDA's authority to regulate it, or that the drug helps save lives."

"This case should be a clarion call to defenders of democracy to take action," she asserted. "If we don't act now, our courts and democracy itself will be eroded beyond repair."

"That's why Women's March is turning out in D.C. and cities across the country this weekend," she added, referring to nationwide protests planned for Saturday. "Together, we can protect the right to safe, legal abortion care and ensure that everyone has the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies and lives."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Brett Wilkins.

"Mifepristone remains safe, effective, and AVAILABLE."

However, access to medication abortion remains at "severe risk." That was the message Friday from abortion rights advocates after the United States Supreme Court temporarily blocked a ruling by a Texas federal judge that would effectively end access to mifepristone.

Justice Samuel Alito issued a short order on the high court's "shadow docket" staying until next Wednesday last week's decision by U.S. 5th Circuit Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump who ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 2000 approval of mifepristone—one of two drugs typically used in tandem to induce abortion—was illegal.

Alito, who wrote the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization—the ruling that canceled half a century of federal abortion rights—is assigned to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"While medication abortion remains accessible for now, this case should never have been heard in the first place," NARAL Pro-Choice America president Minni Timmaraju said in a statement. "Nothing about the rulings from the lower courts' Trump-appointed judges had any basis in medical science–both are steeped in reckless disinformation and total disregard for the law. As this case continues, safe and effective medication abortion in all 50 states is at severe risk."

Jenny Ma, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said Friday that "mifepristone will remain available as it has for the last 23 years, for at least five more days."

"This week has created whiplash for healthcare providers and patients—and this order provides cold comfort for a brief few days," Ma added. "But this case is far from over. The Supreme Court must take action next week to stop the chaos unleashed by these extreme decisions."

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court temporarily blocked the part of Kacsmaryk's ruling that would have invalidated the FDA's approval of mifepristone. Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, called Wednesday's ruling "a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"The court rightly found that some claims were filed too late," Northup added, "but that should not distract from the radical assault on the FDA's decision-making authority and the fact that it will wreak havoc on the provision of medication abortion if it stands."

The full Supreme Court next week is expected to consider granting a longer stay of Kacsmaryk's decision.

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, healthcare providers "have been thrown into chaos repeatedly this week, with the accessibility of mifepristone volleying between two federal district courts and a circuit court."

After Friday's stay, NARAL Pro-Choice America asserted:

The people hurt most by these bans and restrictions are those who already face barriers to accessing abortion care—including women; Black, Latina/x, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous people; those working to make ends meet; the LGBTQ+ community; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; people with disabilities, and other historically oppressed communities.

Rachel O'Leary Carmona, executive director at Women's March, said in a statement that "had the Supreme Court refused to act today, the restrictions imposed by the 5th Circuit would have taken effect across the nation. This stay is the bare minimum. The imminent threat to access to mifepristone and abortion care remains."

"Mifepristone has been safe and effective and proven that way for more than 20 years," O'Leary Carmona continued. "There is no doubt about the FDA's authority to regulate it, or that the drug helps save lives."

"This case should be a clarion call to defenders of democracy to take action," she asserted. "If we don't act now, our courts and democracy itself will be eroded beyond repair."

"That's why Women's March is turning out in D.C. and cities across the country this weekend," she added, referring to nationwide protests planned for Saturday. "Together, we can protect the right to safe, legal abortion care and ensure that everyone has the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies and lives."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Brett Wilkins.

Although the Ministry of Women’s Affairs encourages female victims to seek help from local authorities, “those requests are often ignored,” said Chak Sopheap, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. 

She raised examples of women activists who have faced violence from security personnel while fighting to uphold their rights, including workers striking to demand better wages and working conditions at the NagaWorld Resort and Casino in the capital. Authorities have violently clashed with the mostly female workers on multiple occasions, leaving several injured.

The government must free women it has detained for promoting their rights, including Cambodian-American lawyer Theary Seng, Nagaworld union leader Chhim Sithar and CNRP activists York Neang, Lanh Thavry, Mom Sambo, Kim Tola and Pen Mom, said Mu Sochua, a deputy vice president of the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party.

More female journalists in prison

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders issued a statement Wednesday calling for the immediate and unconditional release of imprisoned women journalists throughout the world, singling out two reporters from Vietnam and Myanmar.

Trang was arrested on the charge of "propagandizing against the State" in October 2020 and sentenced to nine years in prison in December 2021. She had been accused of speaking with foreign media, including Radio Free Asia and the BBC, allegedly to defame the government with “fake news.”

Reporters Without Borders also highlighted the case of Myanmar freelancer Htet Htet Khine, who has been held in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison since August 2021. 

She was sentenced twice to three years of imprisonment with hard labor on charges of “inciting hatred and violence against the armed forces” for reporting the violence they used after taking power in a February 2021 coup.

According to the group, of the 550 journalists and media workers who are currently imprisoned worldwide, 73 – more than 13% – are women, a proportion that has doubled in the past five years.

‘Human trafficking must stop’

In Laos, an official who works on women’s issues told RFA that women’s rights are “a priority” for the government.

“Human trafficking and violence against women must stop, and those who commit these acts must go to jail,” the official said, asking not to be named. “The laws that protect women should be strongly enforced.”

But while the roles and rights of women in Laos have become better respected and protected in recent years, many Lao women – especially those in the country’s remote areas – are poor, uneducated, and easily victimized by human traffickers for the sex trade and forced labor in countries like Thailand and China.

The UNDP also notes “large inequalities in some regions, with women systematically denied the same work rights as men.”

It cited sexual violence and exploitation, unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work, and discrimination in public office as huge barriers.

Red paint

Also on Wednesday, about 20 youth activists gathered in front of the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh calling on the Thai government to drop charges against Thai Tantawan “Tawan” Tuatulanon, Orawan “Bam” Phupong, and other Cambodian women rights defenders.

The activists held a mediation session and doused their bodies with red paint to draw attention to their cause.

“To honor women's day, the government needs to encourage the women who are environmental activists, politicians or union leaders,” said Kim Chhilinshe. “They are being detained for crimes that they didn't commit.”

Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government marked International Women’s Day with a bleak statistic: It said 483 women across the country have been killed by the junta in the 25 months since the military seized power from the democratically elected government.

The joint statement by the National Unity Government’s Ministry of Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs and the National Unity Consultative Council’s Coordinating Committee on Gender Policy said the junta had also detained 3,125 women, 11 of whom received the death sentence and 15 life imprisonment.

Helping, not hurting

In Cambodia, a number of women activists and politicians have been arrested due to their activism, said Am Sam Ath of rights group Licadho. He said they should have been encouraged to work to promote human rights and serve society instead of being arrested.

"I want to see women [activists and politicians] who are being detained get their sentences reduced and pardoned so they can return to their families and to help develop the country," he said.

“We have to understand that they are helping society rather than working against the government,” she told RFA. “They are working for the sake of the national interest.”

Attempts by RFA to reach government spokesman Phay Siphan about the NGOs’ concerns went unanswered Wednesday.

Translated by Samean Yun and Sidney Khotpanya. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer and Lao.

The message has come in a series of ideological lectures for housewives, a resident in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong said on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

“Last week, a lecture was held on active support for the People's Army, saying that having many children and sending them to the People's Army is the greatest patriotism,” the source said.

A second source, based in the northern province of Ryanggang, said the lectures held up legendarily fertile women as the greatest example of patriots.

“They introduced some patriots who sent seven or eight of their kids to the military as an example,” the Ryanggang resident said. “The lecturer emphasized the need to have a patriotic spirit that puts the needs of the country ahead of the family, like these women have.”

But the lectures may really have been aimed at collecting donations from housewives to support the military, the Ryanggang source said.

“In our current difficult living situation, how many citizens can provide material support?”

Manpower – and womanpower

The North Korean military makes up for its lack of advanced technology through sheer numbers.

Compared to the more prosperous and democratic South’s 555,000 military personnel who are equipped with modern weaponry, North Korea has 1.15 million personnel in all its military branches, and many are using equipment that sometimes dates back to the Soviet era.

To maintain such large numbers, every able-bodied North Korean man must serve seven or eight years in the military, and women are strongly encouraged to join for up to five years. The number of enlisted women has been increasing recently due to a shortage of enlisted men in recent years. 

The recent lectures also dedicated a lot of time to  highlighting historical women who worked to support soldiers in wartime, the North Hamgyong source said. 

“The lecture said that all women should learn from the patriotic spirit of the Namgang village women who supported the front lines in the 1950s,” said the second source.

During the 1950-1953 Korean War, women from the small village in the eastern province of Kangwon are said to have shuttled ammunition and food to North Korean soldiers fighting nearby. Their exploits were lionized in film to the point that they are now held up as one of the chief examples of female patriotism.

Rewarded with trip to Pyongyang

These days, North Korea’s most patriotic women – presumably those who have sent many children to the military – are honored with a trip to Pyongyang, according to the North Hamgyong source. The lecture explained that the country’s leader Kim Jong Un publicly promised he would personally invite active supporters to be special representatives to important military celebrations. 

These included the 75th Army Foundation Day events that were held in mid-February, and in July, the anniversary of the 1953 armistice that ended hostilities in the Korean War, which the North calls the “Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War.” 

The lecture recapped how Kim welcomed the patriots in February, the source said.

“Kim Jong Un met with them and took commemorative photos,” the source said. “He also had them visit various places in Pyongyang, and benevolently gave them the opportunity to rest at the Yangdok Hot Spring Resort.”

Additionally, the lectures said that each city, county and province is supposed to register people as “military support enthusiasts.”

In some cases, the Central Committee of the Korean Workers’ Party will choose outstanding contributors as enthusiasts, the source said, adding that the objective is to create a social atmosphere that is conducive to military support.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Chang Gyu Ahn for RFA Korean.

• House overwhelmingly votes down resolution to force withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria within six months
• Senator Bernie Sanders holds hearing on union rights and corporate union-busting
• An International Women’s Day forum denounces cancelation of pandemic era programs that lifted women and children out of poverty
• The Justice Department announces a probe of the Memphis, Tennessee police department in wake of police killing of Tyre Nichols

Image: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The post House rejects resolution to force withdrawal of 900 U.S. troops in Syria; Verbal clash erupts at Senate hearing on corporate union-busting; International Women’s Day forum calls for reinstatement of pandemic era income support programs: The Pacifica Evening News March 8 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.

She will be called Aya. This is the name that nurses gave to the infant baby pulled from the rubble of a five-story building in Jinderis, northern Syria. A miracle. Beside her, the rescuers found her mother, dead. She had given birth within hours of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on the night of February 6, 2023. Like her, more than 50,000 people died in the earthquake. As tragic as it is hopeful, this story has moved the international media. It also reminds us that over 350,000 pregnant women who survived the earthquake now urgently need access to health care, according to the United Nations. And this is only one aspect of women's vulnerability to natural disasters.

Floods, droughts, earthquakes, and other extreme events are not gender-neutral, especially in developing countries. Evidence shows that women and girls die in greater numbers and have different and uneven levels of resilience and capacity to recover. Of the 230,000 people killed in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, for example, 70% were women. Because of gender barriers, they often have fewer survival skills: boys are taught to swim or read first. This makes it difficult for them to access early warnings or identify safe shelters.

In addition, it is more difficult for women to escape from danger, since they are most often responsible for children, the elderly, and the sick. Heightened tensions and fear, as well as the loss of income provoked by disasters, drive increased domestic violence against women and girls. They are also the first victims of sexual violence and exploitation when entire populations are displaced—this was one of the first concerns in Pakistan when more than 8 million people had to leave their homes because of the terrible floods in June through August of 2022.

Progressive taxation—making the richest people and multinationals pay their fair share—is one of the most powerful tools for reducing inequality of all kinds.

Natural catastrophes negatively impact everyone economically, but women and girls are disproportionately affected. World Bank data show that female farmers suffer much more than male ones in rural areas. Assigned to domestic tasks, they are more dependent than men on access to natural resources and are, therefore, the first to suffer when these become scarce. In every region, food insecurity is higher among women than men. In 2020, it was estimated that nearly 60% of the people who go hungry are women and girls, and the gender gap has only increased since then. Their lack of access to bank accounts also means that women's assets are less protected than men's.

And, of course, recovery from any crisis builds on societal expectations related to gender roles. Consequently, women bear the brunt of the increased domestic burden after a disaster at the cost of missing out on other income-generating activities. We know that women spend, on average, 3.2 times more time than men on unpaid care work, and the COVID-19 pandemic—another human-induced natural catastrophe—made evident how unequally unpaid care and domestic work is shared, and how undervalued and underrecognized it is. This is a major constraint on women's access to education, an obstacle to their entry into and advancement in the paid labor market, and to their political participation, with serious consequences in terms of social protection, income, and pensions.

Gender inequality exacerbates the impact of natural disasters, and the consequences of natural disasters exacerbate gender inequality. This is an unacceptable vicious cycle. With the world already facing a growing number of climate-related tragedies, governments must take immediate and long-term action to invest in universal access to health care, water and sanitation, education, social protection, and infrastructure for gender equality and the full enjoyment of women's human rights.

As the world celebrates International Women's Day, let's keep in mind that it is impossible to build more resilient societies without fighting for gender equality.

Even in times of crisis, when state coffers are nearly empty, there are equitable solutions to raise revenues to fund the investments needed to strengthen women's resilience: to make those who profit from the crises ravaging the planet, including from those natural disasters, pay, as recommended by the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT), of which I am a member alongside, among others, Joseph Stiglitz, Jayati Ghosh, and Thomas Piketty. Instead of implementing austerity programs that devastate the most disadvantaged, states can increase their fiscal space by taxing companies and the super-rich more.

It starts with taxing the super profits made by multinationals, and several countries in Europe and Latin America have already begun to do so. This is particularly true for the pharmaceutical giants that have made a fortune selling vaccines against Covid-19, which they were able to develop due to public subsidies. This is also the case for multinationals in the energy or food sector: Oxfam estimates that their profits increased by more than two and a half times (256%) in 2022 compared with the 2018–2021 average. For the same reasons, it is urgent to tax the richest, who get away with paying hardly any taxes these days. One cannot accept that, as Oxfam reminds us, a man like Elon Musk, one of the wealthiest men in history, is taxed at 3.3%, while Aber Christine, a market trader in Uganda who sells rice, is taxed at 40%.

Progressive taxation—making the richest people and multinationals pay their fair share—is one of the most powerful tools for reducing inequality of all kinds. As the world celebrates International Women's Day, let's keep in mind that it is impossible to build more resilient societies without fighting for gender equality. Continuing to ignore it is a political choice, and an even more perilous threat to development than natural disasters themselves.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Magdalena Sepúlveda.

March 8 marks International Women’s Day around the world, seeking to end gender discrimination, violence and abuse. We start the show by looking at the day’s roots in socialism, and what it means for the movement for reproductive justice in the United States. Our guest is Nancy Krieger, renowned professor of social epidemiology at Harvard University’s School of Public Health and director of the Interdisciplinary Concentration on Women, Gender, and Health. She’s also co-founder and chair of the Spirit of 1848 Caucus in the American Public Health Association, which links social justice and public health. International Women’s Day has always been a struggle for “the conditions in which people can thrive,” says Krieger.

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

A group of “pink shoes” women in Aotearoa New Zealand campaigning for gender equality in the Catholic Church took their message with a display of well-worn shoes to St Patrick’s Cathedral plaza in Auckland today on International Women’s Day.

It was part of a national and global “Pink Shoes into the Vatican” campaign.

“Women from all over the country have sent their worn out shoes with their stories of service to the Catholic Church, only to find that the doors to full equality in all areas of the ministry and leadership remain firmly closed,” said an explanatory flyer handed out by supporters.

• READ MORE: Pink Shoes into the Vatican installation at Parliament
• ‘Women Talking’ is the Oscar nominee every Catholic needs to see
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• CSW: Advancing women’s rights since 1946
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“A vibrant church requires a synodal structure in which all members share full equality by right of their baptism.”

The organisers, Be The Change, say: “We are interested in your story. You are invited to email or write to us telling of your experience with the church. You do not have to be a practising Catholic to participate.”

• Email: Be The Change

‘Pink Shoes into the Vatican’ campaign stories.  Video: Be The Change

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

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Yevgeniya Dolgaya.

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Lauren Crosby Medlicott.

The Supreme Court's landmark decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, issued last year, overturned Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), and dismantled the federal constitutional right to abortion. One of the lingering questions in the aftermath of Dobbs is whether any of the five justices who voted to take that drastic step lied about their views on abortion during their respective confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A strong argument can be made that each of them either lied or made materially misleading statements.

Samuel Alito

Alito authored the 5-4 majority opinion in Dobbs, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

He delivered the court's holding in stark and aggressive terms: "Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."

As any seasoned lawyer can attest, the phrase "egregiously wrong" when used by a justice in the normally dignified context of appellate litigation is the equivalent of a verbal smackdown. It's meant as an insult and a sign of contempt.

But contrast Alito's inflammatory language in Dobbs with his Senate confirmation hearing testimony in 2006.

In response to a series of questions about Roe and Casey posed by the late Arlen Specter, then a Republican senator from Pennsylvania, Alito said:

"Well, I think the doctrine of stare decisis is a very important doctrine. It's a fundamental part of our legal system, and it's the principle that courts in general should follow their past precedents, and it's important for a variety of reasons. It's important because it limits the power of the judiciary. It's important because it protects reliance interest, and it's important because it reflect[s] the view that courts should respect the judgments and the wisdom that are embodied in prior judicial decisions….

"Roe v. Wade is an important precedent of the Supreme Court. It was decided in 1973, so it has been on the books for a long time. It has been challenged on a number of occasions…and the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the decision, sometimes on the merits, sometimes in Casey based on stare decisis, and I think that when a decision is challenged and it is reaffirmed that strengthens its value as stare decisis…."

Alito was confirmed by the Senate on January 31, 2006 by a vote of 58-42. His confirmation testimony about abortion can be viewed here.

Clarence Thomas

Thomas not only joined Alito's majority opinion in Dobbs, but he also issued a separate concurrence in which he called upon his colleagues to revisit and overturn such privacy-based precedents as Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) on the right to contraception; Lawrence v. Texas (2003) on the right to engage in same-sex intimacy; and Obergefell v. Hodges, (2015) on the right to same-sex marriage.

Here's what Thomas had to say on these subjects at his 1991 confirmation hearing when questioned by Sen. Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont:

"Senator, I think that the Supreme Court has made clear that the issue of marital privacy is protected, that the State cannot infringe on that without a compelling interest, and the Supreme Court, of course, in the case of Roe v. Wade has found an interest in the woman's right to—as a fundamental interest a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy….

Senator, your question to me was did I debate [in law school or elsewhere] the contents of Roe v. Wade, the outcome in Roe v. Wade, do I have this day an opinion, a personal opinion on the outcome in Roe v. Wade; and my answer to you is that I do not."

Thomas was confirmed on October 15, 1991 by a vote of 52-48. A portion of his confirmation hearing can be viewed here.

Neil Gorsuch

Replying to questions about Roe raised by Sen. Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, Gorsuch testified in his 2017 confirmation hearing:

"I would tell you that Roe v. Wade, decided in 1973, is a precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court. It has been reaffirmed. The reliance interest considerations are important there, and all of the other factors that go into analyzing precedent have to be considered. It is a precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court. It was reaffirmed in Casey in 1992 and in several other cases. So, a good judge will consider it as precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court worthy as treatment of precedent like any other."

Later in the hearing, questioned by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, Gorsuch added:

"Part of the value of precedent [is] it has lots of value. It has value, in and of itself, because it is our history, and our history has value intrinsically. But it also has an instrumental value in this sense. It adds to the determinacy of law…. It is part of the reason why the rule of law in this country works so well."

Gorsuch was confirmed on April 7, 2017, by a vote of 54-45. His confirmation testimony can be seen here.

Brett Kavanaugh

Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion in Dobbs, arguing, in contrast to Thomas, that overruling Roe would not threaten or "cast doubt" on the court's precedent decisions on contraception and marriage. He also claimed that Dobbs would not prevent states that recognize abortion rights from continuing to do so in the future.

Nonetheless, he concluded that when it comes to abortion, the "Constitution does not grant the nine unelected Members of this Court the unilateral authority to rewrite the Constitution to create new rights and liberties based on our own moral or policy views."

He also, incredulously, compared Dobbs to Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the landmark decision that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which upheld state-imposed racial segregation. In fact, Dobbs is more akin to Plessy, permitting states to gut abortion rights and establish a new regime of discrimination that denies pregnant people their right to reproductive freedom.

Kavanaugh took an entirely different tack on Roe and Casey in his confirmation hearing, remarking in a colloquy with Sen. Feinstein:

"I will tell you what my view right now is. Which is, it [Roe] is an important precedent of the Supreme Court that has been reaffirmed many times. But then Planned—and this is the point that I want to make that I think is important. Planned Parenthood v. Casey reaffirmed Roe and did so by considering the stare decisis factors. So Casey now becomes a precedent on precedent. It is not as if it is just a run of the mill case that was decided and never been reconsidered, but Casey specifically reconsidered it, applied the stare decisis factors, and decided to reaffirm it. That makes Casey a precedent on precedent."

Kavanaugh was confirmed on October 6, 2018 by a vote of 50-48. His exchange with Feinstein can be viewed here.

Amy Coney Barrett

Like the other justices who voted to overrule Roe and Casey, Barrett did her best to dodge inquiries about the constitutionality of abortion. However, in a telling back-and-forth with Feinstein about whether she would uphold abortion rights if confirmed, she declared:

"Senator, I completely understand why you are asking the question, but again, I can't pre-commit or say yes, I'm going in with some agenda, because I'm not. I don't have any agenda."

Barrett was confirmed on October 26, 2020, by a vote of 52-48. Her exchange with Feinstein can be viewed here.

Whether the five justices who scuttled Roe and Casey committed perjury or simply deployed their ample skills to avoid full disclosure, their auditions for lifetime appointments on the highest court in the land were an affront to the rule of law and the Constitution they are sworn to uphold. And that is something we should never let them forget.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Bill Blum.

First came the devastating flash floods in Auckland on Friday night. Then came the huge effort to help families evacuate to community shelters. And finally the ongoing clean-up operation.

We’re saddened by this unprecedented extreme weather that has impacted on some of our communities in Aotearoa. It was great to see the community come out to support and help evacuate flooded-out people to the community shelters. We were going door-to-door to help families as the flood waters were rising.

Special thanks to the volunteers who came out yesterday to help clean up at the NZ Ethnic Women’s Trust in Mt Roskill which was impacted by the flooding. Volunteers at the Wesley Primary School helped families with food, clothes and hot meals.

• READ MORE: Other Auckland flood reports

Thanks to the school leaders who opened the space to give shelter to families.

A massive thanks to the volunteers that worked alongside me to distribute food today in Albert-Eden and Puketāpapa. We distributed food and needed information door to door on O’Donnell Avenue in Mt Roskill to families and the church affected by the flood.

We also reached out to affected families in Fowlds Avenue, Kitchener Street and Lambeth Avenue.

About 80 meals delivered to 30 families — thanks to Humanity First International for the meals and to the Whānau Community Centre and Hub’s Nik Naidu.

All over Auckland, volunteers were doing a great job.

• Need help, please contact these numbers:
  Accommodation support: 0800 222 200
  Clothes, bed, and blankets etc: 0800 400 100

Auckland's flash floods

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

South Dakota's Republican governor and attorney general on Tuesday issued a threatening letter directed at the state's pharmacists in response to a recent move by the Biden administration to ease restrictions on dispensing abortion pills amid the GOP's nationwide assault on reproductive freedom.

Gov. Kristi Noem and AG Marty Jackley's letter begins by noting that after Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reversed Roe v. Wade last year, abortion became illegal in South Dakota except to save the life of the pregnant person. It's one of 14 states where abortions are now largely unavailable.

The letter states that "in South Dakota, any person who administers, prescribes, or procures for any pregnant female any medicine or drug with the intent to induce an abortion is guilty of a felony."

In a policy change long advocated by medical experts and rights campaigners, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this month formalized a regulatory change to allow retail pharmacies in the U.S. to dispense mifepristone, one of two drugs often taken in tandem for a medication abortion.

Referencing that development, the letter says that "under South Dakota law, pharmacies, including chain drug stores, are prohibited from procuring and dispensing abortion-inducing drugs with the intent to induce an abortion, and are subject to felony prosecution under South Dakota law, despite the recent FDA ruling."

As The Associated Pressreported Tuesday:

The [FDA's] change could expand access at online pharmacies. People can get a prescription via telehealth consultation with a health professional and then receive the pills through the mail, where permitted by law.

Still, in states like South Dakota, the rule change's impact has been blunted by laws limiting abortion broadly and the pills specifically. Legal experts foresee years of court battles over access to the pills as abortion rights proponents bring test cases to challenge state restrictions.

Amanda Bacon, the director of the South Dakota Pharmacists Association, said in an email that she was not aware of any South Dakota pharmacies with plans to participate in the federal program to dispense abortion pills.

The pro-choice Guttmacher Institute, which tracks policies across the country, labels all six states that border South Dakota as restrictive of abortion access to various degrees—and South Dakota is among the dozen "most restrictive" states in the nation.

Since the Dobbs decision, states with pro-choice policies—especially those like Illinois, which is surrounded by states with abortion restrictions—have seen an influx of "healthcare refugees."

While the FDA's recent move was widely seen as a step toward alleviating some of the strain on clinics trying to serve a growing number of patients fleeing states with forced-birth policies, an ongoing legal battle over the agency's initial approval of mifepristone in 2000 could jeopardize access to the drug nationwide.

Anti-choice physicians last month asked Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk—appointed by former President Donald Trump to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas—to throw out the FDA's 2000 decision. The judge, who was previously the deputy general counsel at a conservative Christian legal advocacy group, could issue a ruling as soon as February 10.

If the Christian alliance that launched the attack on the FDA approval "wins in federal district court, the Biden administration would appeal to the 5th Circuit in New Orleans, a conservative court with 12 of its 16 active judges appointed by Republicans," CNBCpointed out Tuesday. "From there, the case could end up at the Supreme Court."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Jessica Corbett.

Northland kuia Titewhai Harawira has died in Avondale, aged 90.

Titewhai Harawira was a familiar face at Waitangi Day celebrations where she frequently accompanied prime ministers on to the local marae.

The proud matriarch of a close-knit family, she was heavily involved in Māori activism with strong convictions backed by a steely will.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: ‘She didn’t bow to pressure from anyone’ — Dame Nadia Glavish remembers Titewhai Harawira
• ‘A powerful personality in the social and political landscape in the North’ – Shane Jones

“We’ve got radio today, we’ve got television today, we’ve got fishing rights today, we’ve got land rights today, we’ve got a Māori Party today. Why?

“Because a few of us have had the courage to get up there and push the boundaries for the last 50 years and I don’t apologise for that to anybody then or now,” she said in an interview with RNZ in 2009.

Her son, former MP Hone Harawira, said she would lay at her home in Avondale for a night before going to Hoani Waititi Marae in Henderson to lie in state. She would return to the north for burial.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson paid tribute to Titewhai Harawira’s decades of “feisty, staunch activism” and passionate commitment to progressing te ao Māori aspirations.

A massive mihi
“Massive mihi to her lifelong dedication to advancing te ao Māori interests,” she said.

Titewhai Te Hoia Hinewhare was born in 1932 in the Northland farming area of Whakapara and was raised by her maternal grandparents. After training as a nurse, she married John Harawira in 1952, settling in Avondale in Auckland. They had nine children and adopted another three.

The couple were active in local schools and were founding members of the pioneering Hoani Waititi urban marae in West Auckland. Titewhai Harawira was also active in the Māori Women’s Welfare League, especially its campaign to improve Māori housing.

John Harawira died in 1977 and she brought up their extended family on her own.

She became a member of the protest group Ngā Tamatoa in the early 1970s and campaigned hard, often against bitter criticism, for the Māori language.

“We were determined to rescue our language because we felt and we believed, and we believe today, that a people without its language is a people that die,” she told RNZ in 2009.

Titewhai Harawira was one of the leaders of the 1975 land hīkoi that marched from the Far North to Parliament.

Alienation of Māori land
Growing up during the Second World War, she had seen for herself the alienation of Māori land, and the seeds for her dedication to land rights were sown.

“I saw the farms that belonged to my aunties and my cousins, and people in and around our districts, saw those farms being taken over by Māori Affairs and given out to other people, so that when our people came back from the Second World War those farms were padlocked, and they were locked off those farms.”

In later years, she was best known outside her own circles for her annual protests at Waitangi.

In 1998, she blocked then Labour Party leader Helen Clark from speaking on the marae, bringing the usually stoic Clark to tears. Harawira said she was demanding equal rights for Māori women who did not have speaking rights.

In 2000, some of elders attempted to prevent her and her companions from entering Te Tii marae because of the disruptions they caused, but the protest group eventually won the day.

Dame Nadia Glavish of Ngāti Whatua knew and worked closely with Titewhai Harawira.

“She was often called protester, but in the minds of us who walked with her it was more a protector of civil rights in this country.

Done ‘with such dignity’
“She did it with such dignity even though she didn’t bow to any pressure from anyone, government or otherwise. She was staunch and true to her cause. She was very proud to be Māori.”

Former New Zealand First MP Shane Jones said she was a fierce, determined campaigner who had a few controversial stoushes, and was also a critic of her own people.

“A very powerful woman within Māoridom. Unlike other campaigners though, Titewhai was equally fierce in her criticism of Māori leadership in the community.

“She was no spectator. She constantly said to her own people if you want to boost your quality of life and get out of helplessness and hopelessness, don’t be a spectator, or you’ll get what you’ve got which is pretty near zero.

“E te ruahine, E te kai whakatumatuma. Ko rite te wā mou, hoki ai ki te kainga tūturu, e moe, e moe, e Titewhai. Te kai whakatumatuma o Ngāpuhi. Haere atu rā.”

Passion and sincerity
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he did not know her well, but wanted to acknowledge her passing.

“I do want to extend my condolences and my aroha to her whānau. Look, there will be a lot of Kiwis who didn’t agree with Titewhai Harawira but no one could doubt her passion, or her sincerity, and her commitment to Māori — particularly urban Māori.

“In recent years, I know that she’s played a significant role in transforming how we commemorate Waitangi Day and she should be acknowledged for that as well.

“I didn’t know her well and I won’t claim to have, but I did have a few interactions with her … I just extend to them my condolences and my very best wishes.”

When the Māori Party was formed in 2004, Titewhai Harawira wanted to stand as a candidate for it in the general election of the following year, but it was her son Hone who entered Parliament as a Māori Party MP.

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.

As thousands of people gathered at pro-choice rallies across the United States, multiple congresswomen marked the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade on Sunday by sharing their own experiences with abortion care and renewing calls to protect reproductive rights in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court reversing its landmark ruling.

"I'm one of the 1 in 4 women in America who has had an abortion. Terminating my pregnancy was not an easy choice, but more importantly, it was MY choice," tweeted Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who has previously shared her story in a New York Timesopinion piece and during a House hearing.

"Everyone's story is different, but I know this for certain: The choice to have an abortion belongs to pregnant people, not the government. We are not free if we cannot make these fundamental choices about our bodies," she continued. "MAGA Republicans' extreme abortion bans aren't about saving lives, they're about control. We must stand up and fight these bans. Together."

Fellow Washington state Democrat Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez, who was sworn in for her first term earlier this month, wrote on Twitter: "Three years ago I miscarried in the second trimester of a pregnancy. It's a painful memory but something many women have experienced. I traveled hours to the nearest clinic, and I encountered anti-choice protesters. Thankfully I got the care I needed that day."

"I had been told without an immediate abortion, or dilation and evacuation, that my life was at risk. That I could die, or not be able to have children in the future. I got the care I needed, and now I'm the mother of my 17-month-old son," she said. "On what would've been Roe v. Wade's 50th anniversary, I'm thinking of the millions of Americans with stories like mine who are forced to go without access to safe reproductive care. I won't stop fighting to restore this fundamental right and defend reproductive freedom for all."

Nearly seven months since the high court's right-wing majority overturned Roe with Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, "abortion is currently unavailable in 14 states, and courts have temporarily blocked enforcement of bans in eight others," according to a December review by the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute, which tracks state laws.

Just after the Dobbs decision leaked last May, Ellepublished a roundtable discussion with the only five then-members of Congress who had publicly shared abortion stories: Jayapal; Sen. Gary Peters, whose ex-wife got a potentially lifesaving emergency abortion in the 1980s; and Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who did not seek reelection last year.

In the weeks that followed, Reps. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and Marie Newman (D-Ill.)—who lost her June primary after redistricting—also detailed their abortions when they were each 19 years old. During a House hearing, Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) shared that "when my doctor finally induced me, I faced the pain of labor without hope for a living child."

"Would it have been after the first miscarriage, after doctors used what would be an illegal drug to abort the lost fetus?" McBath asked. "Would you have put me in jail after the second miscarriage?"

McBath took to Twitter Sunday to highlight that testimony and warn that "without Roe, all reproductive care is on the line."

Bush—who has spoken about seeking an abortion after becoming pregnant as a result of rape at 17—said in a statement Sunday that "the Roe v. Wade decision was not only historic in that it protected people accessing abortions; it also served as precedent for several more court cases and laws to follow that would further advance gender equality, reproductive rights, and our collective freedoms."

"Unfortunately, we all know what happened last June. Republicans spent decades stacking the federal judiciary with far-right anti-abortion judges and successfully stripped millions of people of their right to safe, legal, and accessible abortion care, particularly Black, Brown, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized communities," she said. "And, let's be clear, Republicans aren't stopping with Roe."

"In just their first couple of days in power, House Republicans passed two anti-abortion bills in a blatant attempt to lay the groundwork for a national abortion ban," added Bush, who was among the 17 federal lawmakers arrested in July while protesting Dobbs at the Supreme Court. "As a congresswoman, a mother, a pastor, and as a person who has had abortions, I will never stop fighting for a person's bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, and for a country that lives up to its proclamation of freedom."

Moore—who represents a state where abortion is now unavailable due to a contested 1849 ban—issued a similar warning in a series of tweets, declaring that "this Roe anniversary is a reminder of what we've lost, and we must fight for a future that creates more equitable healthcare access for all."

"The chaos we've seen over the past six months is the environment anti-abortion politicians have worked for decades to create, and they won't stop with Roe. While we work to protect and restore access to abortion, more attacks on sexual and reproductive health are happening now," she said. "The path ahead will be challenging. It will require us to think bolder than ever before to ensure our very basic rights and freedoms are permanently protected—not subject to whoever happens to be in power."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Jessica Corbett.

As thousands of people gathered at pro-choice rallies across the United States, multiple congresswomen marked the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade on Sunday by sharing their own experiences with abortion care and renewing calls to protect reproductive rights in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court reversing its landmark ruling.

"I'm one of the 1 in 4 women in America who has had an abortion. Terminating my pregnancy was not an easy choice, but more importantly, it was MY choice," tweeted Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who has previously shared her story in a New York Timesopinion piece and during a House hearing.

"Everyone's story is different, but I know this for certain: The choice to have an abortion belongs to pregnant people, not the government. We are not free if we cannot make these fundamental choices about our bodies," she continued. "MAGA Republicans' extreme abortion bans aren't about saving lives, they're about control. We must stand up and fight these bans. Together."

Fellow Washington state Democrat Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez, who was sworn in for her first term earlier this month, wrote on Twitter: "Three years ago I miscarried in the second trimester of a pregnancy. It's a painful memory but something many women have experienced. I traveled hours to the nearest clinic, and I encountered anti-choice protesters. Thankfully I got the care I needed that day."

"I had been told without an immediate abortion, or dilation and evacuation, that my life was at risk. That I could die, or not be able to have children in the future. I got the care I needed, and now I'm the mother of my 17-month-old son," she said. "On what would've been Roe v. Wade's 50th anniversary, I'm thinking of the millions of Americans with stories like mine who are forced to go without access to safe reproductive care. I won't stop fighting to restore this fundamental right and defend reproductive freedom for all."