Human Rights

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In Turkey, left of center and Kurdish women took to Twitter on Wednesday to post pictures of themselves turning their backs to President Tayyip Erdogan. The campaign came after Kurdish women supporting the HDP (People’s Democratic Party) turned their back to the president at a rally […]

Displaced and Refugees

Syrian Refugees Blocked, Stranded in Jordan Desert

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Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Jordanian authorities have severely restricted informal border crossings in the eastern part of the country since late March, 2015, stranding hundreds of Syrians in remote desert areas just inside Jordan’s border. Human Rights Watch analyzed satellite imagery and interviewed international aid workers. They said the Syrians have […]

Balkans

“Nationalism and terrorism are constructed things to divide us”: Macedonian elections and a Balkan “War on Terror”

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By Frances Trix | (Informed Comment) | – Now it appears, thanks to EU mediation, there will be new national elections in Macedonia next April 2016. In one sense it is quite early—there were national elections in April 2014 in which Nikola Gruevski, president since 2006, was once again elected. But in another sense, these […]

Government surveillance

Wins and Losses for Liberty and Privacy in USA Freedom Act

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By Cindy Cohn and Mark Jaycox | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – The Senate passed the USA Freedom Act today by 67-32, marking the first time in over thirty years that both houses of Congress have approved a bill placing real restrictions and oversight on the National Security Agency’s surveillance powers. The weakening amendments to […]

Apartheid

Lawyer: Palestinian children facing torture in Israeli jails

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RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Palestinian children are being beaten and tortured in a “heinous” way by Israeli soldiers during interrogation, a Palestinian Authority lawyer has said. Hiba Masalha, a lawyer for the PA committee of prisoners’ affairs, said in a statement on Sunday that teenage detainees are being “terrified, threatened and blackmailed” in contravention of international […]

Israel

SlutWalk: Israeli Women March For Equal Rights In Jerusalem

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AJ+ | (Video) | – “It’s a city where women have been forced to sit at the back of buses. Now Israel’s women are demanding equal rights in Jerusalem with a “SlutWalk”.” AJ+: “SlutWalk: Israeli Women March For Equal Rights In Jerusalem”

Apartheid

As new Gaza Aid Effort sets Sail, Activists mark 5 years since Israeli attack

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GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Activists in Gaza City on Sunday marked five years since Israel’s deadly attack on the first Freedom Flotilla in 2010, a day after the ship leading Freedom Flotilla III arrived in the port of Bueu in Spain en route to Gaza. Israeli naval forces killed nine activists On May 31, 2010 […]

Apartheid

Israel: Top Outrageous Things Officials of the New Far Right Gov’t have Said

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Ami Kaufman | +972 Magazine | (Video) — “The ministers comprising Israel’s 34th government are the most right wing ever, almost all oppose the two-state solution and have a rich history of legislative attacks on human rights organizations and democratic institutions. Ami Kaufman has a wake-up call for you.” +972 Magazine: ” Wake-up Call: Meet […]

Displaced and Refugees

85,000 Refugees from Ramadi Restricted from Entering Baghdad, despite 110°F Heat

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – (Beirut) – Iraqi authorities are preventing thousands of families fleeing the fighting in Ramadi from reaching safer parts of the country. The government of Iraq has primary responsibility for protecting internally displaced people and should allow those fleeing danger in Ramadi or elsewhere to enter safer areas. Since April 2015, […]