What started as a student protest at universities has become an expression of profound discontent about life in Bangladesh. Can this mass movement grow and force authentic change?
police violence
Lead article: A new generation of radicals against genocide
July 22, 2024Students have poured into protests and encampments because they see a genocide taking place in Palestine. They have shown how intimately their universities are embedded in the military-industrial complex that is arming Israel’s genocidal attack. This movement must be defended, supported and encouraged to develop.
Columbia meets encampments with force
May 9, 2024A participant in the 1968 antiwar student occupation at Columbia University draws parallels to students there protesting genocide now. In both cases, administrators lacking reasoned arguments ordered police assaults that failed to quiet protests and spurred actions on campuses across the U.S. and internationally.
Women WorldWide: July 2023
July 13, 2023Takes up: the Taiwanese TV drama that is inspiring a #MeToo movement; the struggle to get authorities in India to take seriously accusations of rape and harassment against the chief of the Wrestling Federation of India; the legislation passed by Maine to help survivors of prostitution rebuild their lives; and Canada’s failure to implement the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls after three years of federally ordered hearings and testimonies from survivors and victims’ families.
World in View: France: Police murder sparks mass youth protests
July 7, 2023After Nahel Merzouk, a teenager of Algerian-Moroccan descent, was killed by police at a traffic stop in a Paris suburb, French youth, many of North African descent, responded with outrage. How did France come to this explosive moment?
Million Women Rise
June 3, 2023On March 4, over 2,000 women marched through London, organized by Million Women Rise (MWR). MWR is thousands strong and led by a collective of Black women in the UK. It is autonomous, run on donations with no corporate funding or ties to political parties.
Million Women Rise and march
May 22, 2023On March 4, over 2,000 women marched through London, organized by Million Women Rise (MWR). This organization is led by a collective of Black women in the UK with regional subgroups. It is autonomous, run by volunteers on donations with no corporate funding or ties to political parties.
Capitalism can’t deal with disability
May 9, 2023People with disabilities make up 15% of the population. They are in every country and culture on earth. One thing that unites the disabled is that capitalism is a world not made for us, and communism is the only way to establish true freedom and equality for everyone.
LAPD training death
March 21, 2023Comrade Easley reports that an LAPD cop was murdered by fellow officers after submitting reports from a woman who claimed four officers raped her.
Detroiters demand: ‘Stop Cop City!’
Dozens of protesters marched in downtown Detroit chanting: “Stop Cop City!” They opposed the expansion of Camp Grayling to more than double its current police training grounds.
Readers’ Views: March-April 2023, Part One
Readers’ Views on: This Society’s Ingrained Violence; After the Murder of Tyre Nichols; Women and Girls Face Oppression; Church Sexism and Hypocrisy; Fundamentalism vs. Women; Call to Action; Censorship Here and Now; Brexit Catastrophe; China’s Workers and U.S.; Iran Revolt Continues; Azadkar, In Memoriam
Voices from the Inside Out: Prisoners against slavery and for compassion
March 19, 2023Two prisoners speak for themselves, one on the lack of respect for Black lives on the streets and in prison; the other on how prisoners at Georgia’s Forest Hays Jr. State Prison are deprived of justice.
Police murder of Tyre Nichols puts U.S. civilization on trial yet again
March 16, 2023The murder of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police reveals the racism permeating police departments and sparked protests across the U.S. calling into question the system in which the violence is rooted. The police murder of tree-sitter Tortuguita in Atlanta showed how deep the rot is and the uprooting needs to become.
‘Women, Life, Freedom!’ The transformation of Iran
September 28, 2022The Iranian hardline regime should be very afraid. The cries of: “Women, life and freedom!” “Death to the head scarf!” “Death to the dictator!” fill the streets. Iranian women have inspired the world and put Iran’s oligarchs on notice that their repressive regime is in grave danger.
Voices from the Inside Out: Agents of lawlessness
July 19, 2022Prisoner’s critique of police brutality and how it impacts Black communities and is “a tangible reminder of the incompleteness of formal equality.”
Women WorldWide: May-June 2022
May 11, 2022Takes up: feminist-led protesters in London hurling 1,000 rape alarms at Charing Cross police station on the first anniversary of the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard; the launch of Somalia’s first all-female media house, Bilan; a worldwide roundup of actions on International Women’s Day; and Women Take the Wheel, an all-woman volunteer service driving women fleeing Ukraine to homes or shelters in Poland.
May-June 2022: Women WorldWide
April 29, 2022Takes up: feminist-led protesters in London hurling 1,000 rape alarms at Charing Cross police station on the first anniversary of the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard; the launch of Somalia’s first all-female media house, Bilan; a worldwide roundup of actions on International Women’s Day; and Women Take the Wheel, an all-woman volunteer service driving women fleeing Ukraine to homes or shelters in Poland.
Los Angeles police insist on their right to kill
July 4, 2021Police brutality and murders have continued in the U.S. as District Attorneys rarely prosecute criminal police. Los Angeles is no exception where the Los Angeles Police Association and Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva are behind the petition to recall progressive LA County District Attorney George Gascon.
Readers’ Views: July-August 2021, part one
July 2, 2021Readers’ Views on: What Is Socialism?; What Is Marxist-Humanism?; Nuclear Socialism?; Nuclear Capitalism; Flat Earth Society; Indigenous Genocide; Indigenous Liberation; Racism Takes its Toll; Rape Culture; Coming Out in Sports; Colonialism and Liberation
Native Americans challenge Line 3
July 1, 2021The protests over the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota are the latest front in a long struggle of Native Americans. It is also part of the movement to confront climate change in a way that benefits Black, Indigenous and People of Color, women, workers and youth, rather than narrowly aimed to help capital.
World in View: Tunisia youth protest
June 29, 2021Youth revolt broke out in Tunisia after police brutalized a 15-year-old. This year over 2,000 youths have been arrested in protests, many having been beaten and some tortured.
Abahlali baseMjondolo’s Deputy President arrested on trumped-up charges
May 14, 2021The arrest of Abahlali baseMjondolo Deputy President, Mqapheli (George) Bonono, on trumped-up charges is related to the longstanding attempts by the ANC (African National Congress) to crush the eKhenena Occupation in Cato Manor, an occupation that is now a working commune run on a democratic basis with a co-operative managing the farming.
Colombia in Repression and Revolt
May 12, 2021In Colombia there is an ongoing rebellion against the neoliberal, authoritarian government of Iván Duque, who has unleashed his military and police against the unarmed population. Here we print translated excerpts from a May 9, 2021, interview with Afro-feminist Bety Ruth Lozano, a Colombian social leader living in the city of Cali, the epicenter of the revolt and also of the repressive cruelty that has resulted in deaths, disappearances, rapes and hundreds of injuries.
Review: ‘Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America’
February 2, 2021In her book, Ijeoma Oluo discusses the serious damage caused when we expect white men to have all the leadership roles in a society. The damage is not only to women and people of color whose voices are not heard, and to society, which loses their input, but to white men themselves.
LA voters dump killer cop protector Jackie Lacey
November 28, 2020Los Angeles activist Basho tells of the electoral defeat of District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who protected killer cops, and the years of demonstrations and pain that led to her welcomed defeat.
Readers’ views, November-December 2020: part one
Election battles, reaching for the future, and the pull of the past; Sabotage of the post office; Food recycling workers strike; Anti-labor statue downed; Oil and biden; COVID-19: where’s the vision?; Racism and fascism; Polish women’s revolutionary moment; News & Letters is back in print!
Detroit voters speak truth to power
November 26, 2020People in Detroit, Mich., involved in counting the vote of the 2020 presidential election speak for themselves of their pride in fighting Republican intimidation and their anger and determination to keep fighting against racism.
Maryland prisoners organize a union
November 24, 2020A prisoner’s expose of the North Branch Correctional Institution; and the demands of a new chapter of the Maryland Prison Labor Organization.
Amid election battles, masses demand no return to normal
August 29, 2020Nationwide Black-led revolt and white supremacist backlash, class struggles and the ravages of a pandemic and economic collapse are taking place amid election battles and attacks on democracy.
Readers’ views, September-October 2020, part one
Readers’ Views takes up: Black revolt and racism; dialectics of liberation; school battles; election victories; history and freedom; class struggles; and fighting the Right wing.
Detroit police brutality and restraint
August 28, 2020Reflections on police brutality and restraint give meaning to “Defund the Police.”
Detroit eviction fight
Protesters demand a continued moratorium on evictions. There is no way to discuss eviction without including a racist housing system, with landlords supported by police brutality.
Detroit dispatch # 8: Police brutality and restraint
July 25, 2020Detroit resident Susan Van Gelder recounts a tense confrontation between Detroit citizens and police and quotes a Black resident about the need to defund the police and fund conflict resolution instead.
Black youth lead revolt challenging deadly racism, aiming to dismantle system
July 1, 2020A new generation of revolutionary youth, led by Black youth, joined by youth of all races and many older people, created the most widespread, sustained revolt since the 1960s. Its militance reflected the depth of its challenge to this deadly racist society and the breadth of its support.
Voices from the inside out: George Floyd and 13th Amendment
Prisoner columnist Robert Taliaferro explores how George Floyd’s death sparked a delayed discussion of race. Will such discussions be sustained once the cameras are turned off and the reporters leave, or will they once again fall short of needed reforms and honest solutions?
Woman as reason: Black women speak a new humanism
The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rekia Boyd, Nina Pop, of legions more, have put American civilization on trial. Black women—many of them very young—have been at the heart of many of the rallies and marches. Here, some voices from the movement.
South African shackdweller solidarity with George Floyd protesters
A statement of solidarity with the U.S. movement against racism and police brutality by the shackdwellers movement in South Africa, Abahlali baseMjondolo.
Readers’ views: July-August 2020, part 1
Readers’ views on American civilization on trial, coast to coast; Cops in schools; Police and power; Style and meaning; Sports fans speak; Revolt: where to now? and Health workers speak
Anti-racist protests across the U.S.
Protests of George Floyd’s murder and police brutality in general have erupted all over the U.S. Here are in-person reports of demonstrations in Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Thoughts from the outside: Capitalism and looting
Ex-prisoner Faruq writes about the meaning of looting in racist, capitalist Amerika where police brutality runs rampant.
Free Chanthon Bun! Stop ICE transfers!
Protesters in front of San Quentin prison demanded freedom for Chanthon Bun. Instead of honoring the board’s decision that he was suitable for parole, the California Department of Corrections and rehabilitation intends to transfer him to an ICE detention center.
Detroit dispatch #7: art, protests and evictions
June 29, 2020Detroit dispatch #7 saw a multiplicity of daily Black Lives Matter protests, in both city and suburbs, illuminating revelations of and resistance against systemic racism. Art flourishes while evictions loom, Fiat-Chrysler workers walk out while speed-up of workers continues and social distancing and mask wearing fall by the wayside.
Uprisings sparked by George Floyd’s murder by the police: A preliminary statement
June 1, 2020American civilization never ceases to put itself on trial, as shown once again by the revolt in Minneapolis that quickly spread nationwide, a new moment of revolt in an unprecedented situation.
Outrage in San Francisco
May 31, 2020Since May 29, there have been ongoing demonstrations sparked by the outrage over the police murder of George Floyd. They spread throughout the many San Francisco Bay Area cities including ones not especially known for activism like Walnut Creek.
Women worldwide, September-October 2019
August 31, 2019Feminists in Iran call on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to resign; huge demonstrations against police rapes in Mexico; removal of the “Girl of Peace Statue” in Japan; and the trial of Canan Kaftancioğlu, the Istanbul chief of the secularist Republican People’s Party.
The end of ‘Urban Shield’
May 10, 2018First-hand report of a demonstration to end Urban Shield in San Francisco Bay Area, California, on March 27, 2018.
Rising U.S. racism challenges all freedom movements
September 2, 2017A Marxist-Humanist analysis of the history and meaning of the rising of the right-wing neo-Nazi white supremacist movement, its relationship to President Donald Trump and his administration, and its challenge to the freedom forces arrayed against it who are fighting for a humanist world. .
Handicap This! September-October 2017
August 29, 2017New Jersey medical parole passed; Chicago cop shoots autistic teen; films lack characters with disabilities.
Fighting back against the rise of neo-Nazi hate
August 28, 2017In-person reports of demonstrations in Chicago, Memphis, Oregon, Los Angeles and Halifax in Canada in solidarity with activists in Charlottesville, Va., fighting against neo-fascism and demanding to take down Confederate statues. .
25 years since the Los Angeles Rebellion
June 5, 2017A participant reports on the actions on April 29, the 25th Anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles Rebellion, when over 500 Latino, Asian, and Black and white mostly youth marched through the streets starting from Florence and Normandie, where the Rebellion began.