democracy

Thousands of PTI supporters reach Islamabad demanding Imran Khan’s immediate release

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Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Thousands of supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan marched to Islamabad over the past few days facing heavy repression from security forces

Thousands of members and supporters of Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) reached Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday, November 26, facing heavy repression by security forces including tear gas and live fire. Reportedly four people have been killed. Protesters are demanding the release of their leader, former Prime Minister Imran Khan and have also called for the restoration of the party’s allegedly stolen mandate in this year’s national elections.

PTI and Khan supporters started marching to Islamabad from all corners of the country on Sunday, aiming to reach D-Chowk near the country’s Parliament. However, security forces have attempted to prevent the movement by erecting barricades, including shipping containers, on roads linking the capital with other regions, along with other coercive measures.

Protesters traveling in trucks, buses, cars or on foot from various provinces, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), where the PTI is in power, were reportedly attacked by the security forces using batons and tear gas. Additionally, a large number of people have been arrested after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared the protest illegal last week.

The actions of the security forces delayed the gathering in Islamabad on Sunday, forcing the PTI to announce that it might take a couple more days for all its supporters to assemble at the designated place in Islamabad. PTI announced that it will not abandon the protest until all objectives are achieved.

The march is organized in response to Khan’s “final call” for protest issued earlier this month. Khan urged all his supporters and party leaders to mobilize and march in solidarity until they achieve the release of all political prisoners, the reversal of 26th constitutional amendment, the restoration of democracy and of the constitution, and the return of “the stolen mandate,” referring to allegedly rigged general elections held in February this year.

The 26th amendment, passed in October, gave more power to the parliament over the judiciary, despite objections raised by PTI and several other parties. PTI claims that the amendment was introduced specifically to prevent Khan’s early release from jail.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced that the government would prevent protesters from entering the capital at any cost. The government also accused PTI of working against the interest of the nation. Naqvi admitted that mobile internet services had been suspended in some parts of the country to manage the situation.

The government also filed cases against Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, former president Arif Alvi, and several other PTI leaders under Pakistan’s anti-terrorism laws, the Express Tribune reported.

The protests may further erode the legitimacy of the government 

Ammar Ali Jan, head of the Haqooq-e-Khalq Party (HKP), told Peoples Dispatch that the coalition government of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Peoples Party of Pakistan (PPP), led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, is already facing a serious crisis of legitimacy due to the questionable way in which it came to power during the general elections with the backing of the “establishment”, i.e. the military. The ruling coalition is now on the defensive as PTI’s frequent calls for popular protests further deepen the crisis of legitimacy.

Khan, who has been held in Pakistan’s Adiala Jail since his arrest in August last year on various charges, remains very popular. Despite allegations of manipulation, attempts to disqualify the party, and Khan’s imprisonment, PTI won the largest number of seats in the parliament.

While the former Prime Minister has been convicted on several charges, many of those convictions have been reversed by higher courts, and in some, he has been granted bail. Last week, the IHC granted him bail in one of the most high-profile cases, related to Toshakhana or the illegal sale of state gifts.

However, the Pakistan’s government has refused to release him, claiming that several cases are still pending. Khan and his supporters assert that all cases filed against him since his ousting from power in July 2022 are politically motivated and stem from his criticism of the military’s role in politics.

Ammar Ali Jaan warns that if the current siege of the capital is prolonged or if any bloodshed occurs, the regime’s “crisis of legitimacy” will intensify further, potentially numbering the days in power for the current government.

Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingThousands of PTI supporters reach Islamabad demanding Imran Khan’s immediate release

Journalism is not a crime – Tell that to the British state

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/journalism-is-not-a-crime-tell-that-to-the-british-state/

Police raided the home of journalist Asa Winstanley. (Photo: AsaWinstantley.com)

Why are no national news outlets covering the crackdown on pro-Palestinian journalists in Britain?

“Journalism is the lifeblood of democracy” proclaimed prime minister Keir Starmer in a comment piece for the Guardian at the end of October. “Just because journalists are brave does not mean they should ever suffer intimidation”, he wrote.

Yet 11 days before his article was published, officers from the counter-terrorism unit of the Metropolitan Police raided the home of Asa Winstanley, a well-known pro-Palestinian journalist with the Electronic Intifada, and seized his devices under provisions of the UK’s Terrorism Act.

Winstanley was presented with a letter indicating that the raid was part of ‘Operation Incessantness’, a counter-terror initiative about which little is known.

This is not the first use of anti-terror laws to try to silence pro-Palestinian voices in recent months. 

It follows the detention at Heathrow Airport of Richard Medhurst and the arrest of Sarah Wilkinson in August 2024, both of whom are independent journalists prominently associated with reporting Israel’s war on Palestinians.

The attacks on journalists are part of a wider pattern of harassment of pro-Palestine activists. 

…

In response to these outrageous infringements of journalists’ ability to do their jobs, Declassified UK noted back in September that “they are part of a sinister development that has serious implications for civil liberties and freedom of speech, yet it has been ignored by the mainstream media”.

This continues to be the case. Not a single national news outlet in the UK has reported on the policing of British pro-Palestinian journalists. Not one of them has thought to investigate what ‘Operation Incessantness’ might mean for press freedom. 

Not one of them has reflected on the precedent set by the use of anti-terror laws for reporting on Gaza.

…

https://www.declassifieduk.org/journalism-is-not-a-crime-tell-that-to-the-british-state/

dizzy: Bloggers are journalists and journalists are bloggers. Restrictions are applied to this blog contrary to human rights principles. Comments are not permitted, stats are manipulated. I finally managed to connect to Google Analytics and it told me I had 8 page views on one day, 14 on the following day – at least it’s obviously total BS.

I assume that UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is responsible for this but it could be Germany since this blog is hosted in Germany. I have no idea tbh because I’ve never been told and never been given the opportunity to challenge it.

On the plus side, I think that the Fascist human rights violators may also be paying for my hosting. If I’m reaching a far wider audience than acknowledged, somebody is paying for that bandwidth. Somebody is also paying to hide my name. I used to pay for it – about £20 a year – but decided that I couldn’t afford it one year. My name appeared on the DNS record but was hidden within about 20 minutes.

Continue ReadingJournalism is not a crime – Tell that to the British state

SNP vow to ‘sabotage’ Labour’s ‘watered-down’ House of Lords reforms

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/snp-vow-sabotage-labours-watered-down-house-lords-reforms

King Charles III reads the King’s Speech, as Queen Camilla sits beside him during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords, London, July 17, 2024

THE SNP has vowed to “sabotage” Labour’s “watered-down” House of Lords reforms with a deluge of amendments.

Labour’s House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, aiming to exclude the last remaining 92 hereditary peers from the legislature, faces its third reading in the House of Commons today.

But SNP MP Pete Wishart has tabled amendments ranging from abolishing the institution altogether to making peers’ £342 daily allowance liable for income tax.

Pointing to the “egregious example” of £18,808 paid to private healthcare tycoon Lord Hameed of Hampstead last year, despite him playing no role and failing to vote even once, Mr Wishart argues that taxing the £20 million paid out in allowances last year could generate over £9m — enough to restore Winter Fuel Payments to more than 22,000 pensioners in Scotland.

Urging Scottish Labour MPs to “at least” back him on taxing allowances, Mr Wishart commented: “That’s the only viable option for anyone who believes in democracy.

…

“The Labour Party has repeatedly broken its promise to abolish the House of Lords for more than a century and, frankly, this embarrassingly limited Bill is 114 years too little, too late.

“The undemocratic House of Lords is an archaic institution of the kind you’d find in a banana republic and it’s second only in size to the Congress of China costing taxpayers more than £200m a year.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/snp-vow-sabotage-labours-watered-down-house-lords-reforms

Continue ReadingSNP vow to ‘sabotage’ Labour’s ‘watered-down’ House of Lords reforms

Starmer pledges support for Trump and capitalism

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Former US president Donald Trump at a Republican convention in California on 29 September 2023. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
2RY8Y78 Former President Donald Trump gesture to the crowd before his speech at the California Republican Party Convention Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-pledges-support-trump-and-capitalism

BRITAIN must unite with Donald Trump in support of freedom and capitalism, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said today.

Congratulating Mr Trump on his imminent return to the US presidency, Sir Keir said: “As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise.”

The generous interpretation of Mr Trump’s outlook appeared to be an attempt by the government to efface the record of unflattering comments made about the president-elect by Labour figures, including Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Sir Keir was taunted by new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch in the Commons over the fact that the Republican Party is suing the Labour Party over the dispatch of hundreds of activists to the US to assist Kamala Harris’s doomed campaign.

Sir Keir submitted himself to a meal with Mr Trump during a recent visit to New York, which by most accounts went rather well, details including the president-elect personally offering Mr Lammy second helpings. [!]

…

Communist Party general secretary Robert Griffiths said: “In place of grovelling congratulations like those from Prime Minister Starmer, the so-called ‘centre-left’ should learn the lesson from recent US and EU election results: capitulating to big business market forces, racism, militarism and right-wing nationalism will end in their own defeat, sooner or later.”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-pledges-support-trump-and-capitalism

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government's support for Israel's Gaza genocide and the UK government and military's active participation in genocide.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
Continue ReadingStarmer pledges support for Trump and capitalism

100,000+ People Across France March to Decry Macron’s ‘Denial of Democracy’

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Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

A protester carries a sign called on Michel Barnier, who was selected by French President Emmanuel Macron as the prime minister, to resign at a protest on September 7, 2024 in Nantes, France. (Photo: Maylis Rolland/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)

“Expressing one’s vote will be useless as long as Macron is in power,” said one demonstrator.

In cities and towns across France on Saturday, more than 100,000 people answered the call from the left-wing political party La France Insoumise for mass protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s selection of a right-wing prime minister.

The demonstrations came two months after the left coalition won more seats than Macron’s centrist coalition or the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) in the National Assembly and two days after the president announced that Michel Barnier, the right-wing former Brexit negotiator for the European Union, would lead the government.

The selection was made after negotiations between Macron and RN leader Marine Le Pen, leading protesters on Saturday to accuse the president of a “denial of democracy.”

“Expressing one’s vote will be useless as long as Macron is in power,” a protester named Manon Bonijol told Al Jazeera.

A poll released on Friday by Elabe showed that 74% of French people believed Macron had disregarded the results of July’s snap parliamentary elections, and 55% said the election had been “stolen.”

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of La France Insoumise (LFI), or France Unbowed, also accused Macron of “stealing the election” in a speech at the demonstration in Paris on Saturday.

“Democracy is not just the art of accepting you have won but the humility to accept you have lost,” Mélenchon told protesters. “I call you for what will be a long battle.”

He added that “the French people are in rebellion. They have entered into revolution.”

Macron’s centrist coalition won about 160 assembly seats out of 577 in July, compared to the left coalition’s 180. The RN won about 140.

Barnier’s Les Républicains (LR) party won fewer than 50 parliamentary seats. French presidents have generally named prime ministers, who oversee domestic policy, from the party with the most seats in the National Assembly.

Barnier signaled on Friday that he would largely defend Macron’s pro-business policies and could unveil stricter anti-immigration reforms. Macron has enraged French workers and the left with policies including a retirement age hike last year.

Protests also took place in cities including Nantes, Nice, Montpellier, Marseilles, and Strasbourg.

All four left-wing parties within the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) coalition have announced plans to vote for a motion of no confidence against Barnier.

The RN has not committed to backing Barnier’s government yet and leaders have said they are waiting to see what policies he presents to the National Assembly before deciding how to proceed in a no confidence vote.

Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue Reading100,000+ People Across France March to Decry Macron’s ‘Denial of Democracy’