Youth

By Afshin Shahi, Keele University | – The vibrant, brave and unyielding voice of dissent remains strong in Iran despite months of brutal repression by the clerical regime. The “women, life, freedom” movement is an insistent call for change that is meeting the Islamic Republic head-on with resilient defiance. Even as violence curbs the outward […]

censorship

Iranian Journalists Who Broke Mahsa Amini Story Stand Trial Behind Closed Doors

Golnaz Esfandiari

I’m RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following during the past week and what I’m watching for in the days ahead. The Big Issue ( RFE/RL ) – A revolutionary court in Iran this week began the trials of two female journalists who helped break the story of Mahsa Amini’s death. Amini’s death […]

Children

The Return of GOP-backed Child Labor is another Good Reason to Tax the Rich

Sam Pizzigati

By Sam Pizzigati | ( Otherwords) – Ever since the middle of the 20th century, our history textbooks have applauded the reform movement that put an end to the child-labor horrors that ran widespread throughout the early Industrial Age. Now those horrors are reappearing. The number of kids employed in direct violation of existing child […]

Children

After the Worst April-May Heatwave in History, Indians and Pakistanis must Demand these Urgent Climate Actions

The Third Pole

Aditi Mukherji ( The Third Pole ) – When heatwaves disrupt our children’s education, it is time to demand climate action. I am writing this as a climate scientist and a mother of two young children. I was a member of the team that wrote the latest climate report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on […]

Climate Crisis

Divest, Decarbonize and Dissociate – Inside the Bold new Push to Get Fossil Fuels off Campus

Waging Nonviolence

By Nick Engelfried ( Waging Nonviolence) – From late November through early March of this year, visitors to the University of Washington Career Center in Seattle would have found students sitting in a circle on the floor, some doing homework on laptops as they participated in one of the longest-running recent climate protests at the […]

Houthi

Any New Yemen Truce must allow Participation of Citizens and Civil Society

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Negotiations for a new truce in Yemen by Saudi and Houthi authorities present an opportunity to incorporate accountability and monitoring mechanisms that are essential for protecting Yemenis’ fundamental rights, Human Rights watch said today. Based on news reports, negotiations are apparently making progress. To effectively address Yeminis’ human rights, […]

Authoritarianism

Not Just Rallies: Iranian Protesters are Drafting Charters and a Bill of Rights

The Conversation

By Mona Tajali, Agnes Scott College; and Homa Hoodfar, Concordia University | – (The Conversation) – It’s been six months since the latest spark ignited mass protests in Iran — the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa (Jina) Amini in morality police custody after she was arrested for allegedly failing to wear her hijab properly. The […]

Iran

Iran: poisoning of Thousands of Schoolgirls piles more Pressure on Islamic Republic struggling for Survival

The Conversation

By Afshin Shahi, Keele University | – The Iranian government has announced several arrests in connection with the reported poisoning of more than 7,000 schoolgirls in more than 100 schools around the country. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has condemned the poisonings, saying perpetrators should be “severely punished”. Yet other government messages are confused. The […]

Health

Mysterious Wave Of Sickness Hits Iranian Schoolgirls, Amid Speculation Over Gov’t Poisoning

Golnaz Esfandiari

A spate of illnesses in schools in the Iranian city of Qom has prompted public anger, with some accusing the government of negligence. ( RFE/RL) – Hundreds of schoolgirls have fallen sick and scores have been hospitalized in Iran’s holy city of Qom in recent months, with some parents and officials suspecting they were […]