International News

On September 21, the French Ministry of Interior ordered two Indymedia websites — Indymedia Nantes and Indymedia Grenoble — to take down a communiqué claiming responsibility for a fire at a Grenoble police depot the previous night. According to the government, the hosted text constitutes a "provocation to terrorism". Both Indymedia collectives decided to take down the communiqué to avoid being put on a secret blocking list sent by the government to major ISPs in France. Indymedia Grenoble says, "this request (...) directly echoes the attack which took place in Germany on the 25th of August against Indymedia Linksunten, an attack which resulted in the police raid of four households and a self-administered social service center, citing similar pretexts."

Linksunten.indymedia.org, the main independent media website in Germany, was banned by the German government's Ministry of Interior on August 25. Maintaining the website and using its logo are now considered criminal offenses in the country. Linksunten volunteers are also being prosecuted as a "club," which means that administrators are considered responsible for everything that has been published. Administrators are also being accused of being members of a terrorist association. This represents a new step in the repression in Europe. The last time something of this significance occurred was in 1995, when the German central power banned the newspaper "Radikal", which sparked demonstrations all over the country.

On August 25, the German government raided and shut down Linksunten Indymedia, an integral part of the global Independent Media Center network, and the most widely used German-language platform for radical politics and organizing. In Freiburg, riot police seized computers and harassed those they accuse of maintaining the site, justifying their actions on the grounds that the alleged administrators constitute an illegal organization intent on destroying the German Constitution. This represents a massive escalation in state repression against what the authorities call “left-wing extremism,” disingenuously suggesting an equivalence between those who seek to build communities beyond the reach of state violence and Neo-Nazis organizing to carry out attacks and murders.

As tensions ramp up between the U.S. and North Korea, speakers at a rally in San Francisco on August 15 called for the halting of US/South Korea military exercises along the Korean Peninsula. The annual war games are scheduled to be held starting August 21 and coincide with North Korea's threat to Guam. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North Korea) views the joint exercises as continued acts of war, as there was never a signed peace treaty at the end of the Korean War in 1953. On August 28, in response to the United States and South Korean war games, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has launched an unarmed missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean.

The hunger striking Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons suspended their hunger strike on May 27 at dawn, after a 20-hour session of talks between the Israeli Prison Authority and imprisoned legislator Marwan Barghouthi and other senior political prisoners. Issa Qaraqe, the head of the Palestinian Detainees’ Committee, and Qaddoura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, said in a press release that the detainees reached an agreement with the Israeli authorities regarding their demands and officially suspended their strike. “A substantial transformation has been achieved by this strike,” Qaraqe declared.

Ongoing clashes erupted across the occupied West Bank on April 28 in support of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners who entered the 12th day of a hunger strike. Palestinians are calling it the Day of Rage. Israeli forces fired tear-gas bombs, rubber-coated steel bullets and live fire, during the clashes, which broke out following Friday prayers in cities, villages and refugee camps in various districts of the West Bank. Numerous Palestinians were injured. Detainees started their hunger strike on April 17th, which also marks the Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, demanding basic, internationally-guaranteed rights.

Long a go-to news source for community and independent radio stations across the country, Free Speech Radio News (FSRN) will permanently shut down at the end of April. For seventeen years, FSRN has broadcast stories documenting repression and corruption while highlighting the individuals, campaigns and movements working to bring about a more just and equitable society. Paul Riismandel writes: The loss of FSRN is truly tragic. FSRN has been dedicated to truly grassroots reporting that emphasizes local voices on the ground, with a focus on social justice.

Land Day was marked with demonstrations in memory of the seizure of 21 thousand dunams of land in Al-Jalil, Al-Muthalth and Al-Naqab on March 30, 1976. Palestinians protested the Israeli apartheid wall, attempted to plant olive trees on stolen land, and called for the release of political prisoners held by Israel. Scores were injured by Israelis with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas. Israeli occupation violations against Palestinians continue. Israel has seized more than 85% of the total area of historical land of Palestine. Arabs comprise 48% of the total population, but are able to utilize only 15% of the land.

A coalition of social justice activists demonstrated with signs, banners, and flyers outside the annual RSA cyber-security conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco on February 14 and 15, educating attendees and the public about how Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) enables and profits from Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, and from racist immigration and incarceration policies in the United States. HPE is a platinum sponsor and participant in the annual RSA Conference. The protests followed last month’s Global Day of Action against HP, with over 150 demonstrations in over 60 countries around the world

The annual overwintering count of monarch butterflies released on February 9 confirms Monarch numbers fell by nearly one-third from last year’s count, indicating an ongoing risk of extinction for America’s most well-known butterfly. Scientists report that this year’s population is down by 27 percent from last year’s count, and down by more than 80 percent from the mid-1990s. A survey of monarch butterflies overwintering in California shows that the Western population has not rebounded. On the West Coast of California, key sites such as Pismo Beach and Natural Bridges saw lower populations this year than in the prior year.

On March 8, International Women's Day events are scheduled for Berkeley/Albany, Oakland, San Francisco, Cupertino, Santa Cruz and throughout Northern California. A diverse group of radical feminists issuing a call-out for an international women's strike write: In our view, it is not enough to oppose Trump and his aggressively misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic and racist policies. We also need to target the ongoing neoliberal attack on social provision and labor rights. Let us use the occasion to build a feminism for the 99%, a grassroots, anti-capitalist feminism – a feminism in solidarity with working women, their families and their allies throughout the world.

A recent US Supreme Court decision, “Williams vs. Pennsylvania,” could open the door for Mumia Abu-Jamal’s freedom. The decision ruled that a prosecutor cannot later sit as judge over the same defendant’s appeal. This is exactly what happened in Mumia’s case. On December 8, marking the 35th anniversary of imprisonment for American political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and to protest the refusal by prison authorities to provide necessary medication, a coalition of supporters in Philadelphia, Toronto, Wellington, and Oakland demonstrated.

On December 23, Israeli forces suppressed Bethlehem’s “Santa Claus March,” shooting tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at participants, with many suffering from tear gas inhalation. A number of demonstrators participated in a march near Israeli checkpoint 300 which separates Bethlehem residents from Jerusalem. The march, which included participants dressed up as Santa Claus, close to the Christian holiday of Christmas, was launched under the banner “Terrorism and Occupation are Two Sides of the Same Coin,” and demanded the opening of Israeli checkpoints for Christian tourists to celebrate the holiday in the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Korean Port Truck workers have struck against deregulation and union busting by South Korea President Park Geun-hye. They were attacked, beaten, and the leaders were jailed by the government. Many union leaders including the president of the KCTU have been jailed by the government. Supporters of the Korean general strike against the government spoke out at the San Francisco South Korean consulate on November 30.

Chanti Ollin, a well-known autonomous cultural center in the gentrified financial district of Mexico City, was violently evicted on November 22. Eight hundred riot police, two helicopters, and an armored car executed the operation, illegally breaking into the building and detaining 26 individuals without so much as a judicial order. This eviction takes place against the backdrop of Mexico City's new constitution, which seeks to privatize land and resources, and suppress any political or cultural activity that disrupts this profit-making program.