harassment

Michiganders Vow to Fight Trump Attacks on LGBTQ+ Youth as DOJ Probes Public Schools

Spread the love

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

People participate in a “Hands Off” protest against the Trump administration in Detroit, Michigan, on April 5, 2025. (Photo by Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

“We urge federal officials to focus on real threats to student well-being like gun violence, funding cuts, and staffing shortages rather than singling out districts that work to support all children,” said one advocacy leader.

Denouncing the Trump administration’s probes to determine whether three public school districts “have included sexual orientation and gender ideology” content in courses as “part of a broader attack on our rights as Michiganders,” the head of one progressive group pledged Friday to keep fighting to ensure that “all of our kids can thrive at school free from bullying, harassment, and other unfair treatment.”

The US Department of Justice announced Wednesday that its Civil Rights Division is investigating Detroit Public Schools Community District, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, and the Lansing School District. The DOJ is examining content for pre-K through 12th grade courses, opt-out policies, and whether the districts “limit access to single-sex intimate spaces, such as bathrooms and locker rooms, based on biological sex.”

RECOMMENDED…

Children held signs as protesters marched in Minneapolis against Immigration and Customs Enforcement

From Business Closures to Student Walkouts, Communities Across US Demand: ‘ICE Out!’

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz And MN Attorney General Ellison Hold News Conference On Federal Detention Of Children

Minnesota Districts and Teachers Sue to Make ICE ‘Stay Away From Our Schools’

In a Friday statement, Justin Mendoza, executive director of Progress Michigan, emphasized that his state’s “civil rights laws explicitly protect LGBTQ+ students, and our state must enforce them to the fullest extent.”

Mendoza condemned not only the Trump administration’s efforts to harm “the most vulnerable and historically marginalized among us,” but also Republicans at the state and federal level who “are trying to limit honest conversations about our nation’s history, while fighting each and every attempt to create safe, inclusive schools for our children.”

“Attorney General Pam Bondi is setting a terrible example for younger generations—considering the way she behaved at a recent congressional hearing where she name-called members of Congress—and now she’s going a step further by throwing nondiscrimination policies into the dumpster,” he said. “People of all genders, races, and backgrounds benefit from strong nondiscrimination policies.”

“From Marquette to Monroe, teachers, students, and their families are committed to having an educational system that reflects the diversity of the world they live in,” Mendoza continued. “Classrooms deserve to have age-appropriate conversations about health, identity, and respect, and if parents choose to opt their children out of participating in these conversations, they are already allowed to by Michigan law.”

“The Trump Department of Justice is truly looking to invent problems instead of actually fighting crime and violence towards youth,” he concluded, “and Michiganders won’t take this intrusion into our education system.”

“The Trump Department of Justice is truly looking to invent problems instead of actually fighting crime and violence towards youth, and Michiganders won’t take this intrusion into our education system.”

Other state and nationwide groups have also spoken out against the administration’s probes and targeting of LGBTQ+ youth this week. Brian Dittmeier, director of LGBTQI+ equality at the National Women’s Law Center, blasted the investigations as a “blatant attempt to discourage inclusive education.”

Jay Kaplan, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, told Chalkbeat that “this is an attempt to harass and bully districts into discriminating against trans kids and into erasing the existence of LGBTQ people.”

Equality Michigan executive director Erin Knott said that “LGBTQ+ youth are among the most vulnerable young people in our state. They face higher rates of bullying, harassment, and mental health challenges. Inclusive education policies are not ‘ideology,’ they are evidence-based efforts to ensure that every student feels safe, respected, and seen in their own school community.”

“All kids deserve an education that reflects the diversity of the world they live in,” she stressed. “Age-appropriate discussions about health, identity, and respect help create safer classrooms for all students. We urge federal officials to focus on real threats to student well-being like gun violence, funding cuts, and staffing shortages rather than singling out districts that work to support all children.”

State Superintendent Glenn Maleyko was similarly critical of the federal administration in his response, saying Thursday that “the Michigan Department of Education strongly supports all students and supports the school districts that have been targeted by the US Department of Justice.”

Maleyko continued:

If we want to put Students First and make sure children can learn, we need all students to be healthy and safe and feel included. The much-needed updates to health education guidelines—which the Department of Justice falsely said are state requirements—help local districts make decisions on how they can support student health.

As required by state law, MCL 380.1507, local school boards set health curriculum with input from local sex education advisory boards. Local control remains in place. Parents retain the right to decide whether their children should participate in sex education instruction.

The Michigan Department of Education strongly supports and will work closely with the three districts’ efforts to select a curriculum that best supports the needs of their students, consistent with state standards and guidelines. We remain committed to protecting the rights of all students and to upholding Michigan’s constitutional guarantee of access to a free public education for every child.

“The breadth and scope of the federal requests, premised on a mischaracterization of the Michigan Health Education Standards Guidelines adopted by the State Board of Education, place a significant administrative burden on local districts and risk diverting time and resources away from the core mission of educating students,” Maleyko added.

As for the targeted districts, a spokesperson for the Detroit schools declined to comment, while Guillermo Lopez, the Lansing school board president, told the Detroit Free Press that parents in his district are informed that “they can opt out of certain classes.”

Arnetta Thompson, superintendent of Godfrey-Lee schools, told Chalkbeat that her district will provide information requested by the DOJ and “is not facing any charges or findings of wrongdoing. We remain committed to complying with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and have consistently operated in accordance with those laws.”

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

Donald Trump decrees forbidden terms denying sexual diversity
Donald Trump decrees forbidden terms denying sexual diversity
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.

Continue ReadingMichiganders Vow to Fight Trump Attacks on LGBTQ+ Youth as DOJ Probes Public Schools

Germany: Imprisoned ‘Palestine Action’ activists face harassment

Spread the love

by Leon Wystrychowski

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Police detain demonstrators as activists gather outside the Ministry of Justice during the “Lift the Ban” protest launched by the Defend Our Juries campaign group ahead of the judicial review on the designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization in London, United Kingdom, on November 20, 2025. [Raşid Necati Aslım – Anadolu Agency]

Five activists who targeted Israel’s arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in Germany are being held in harsh and legally questionable conditions. Charged under a statute increasingly used to criminalize political dissent, the ‘Ulm Five’ face solitary confinement, surveillance, and prolonged detention without bail – highlighting how Germany’s proclaimed ‘reason of state’ translates into repression of Palestine solidarity at home.

For years, Palestine activists in Germany have looked to Britain with a sense of astonishment. The state that promised Palestine to Zionist settler colonialism in the 1917 Balfour Declaration is scarcely less pro-Israel than the Federal Republic of Germany, with its so-called Staatsräson (‘reason of state‘) that proclaims unconditional solidarity with Israel – albeit without ever having been codified into law. And yet, solidarity in Britain appears – at least from this vantage point – to be more vibrant, broader, and above all more effective.

This perception is partly shaped by the mass demonstrations that repeatedly brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of London between October 2023 and October 2025. In Germany, by contrast – despite its many large cities but lack of true megacities – numerous decentralized actions have taken place every week since the start of the Gaza genocide. However, truly large demonstrations breaking the 50,000 or even 100,000 mark did not occur until last summer.

A model: ‘Palestine Action’

For many, this positive view of the British Palestine solidarity movement has also been decisively shaped by the group Palestine Action (PA), which succeeded in combining ‘direct action with media work and political struggle, including legal battles in court. Quite a few activists in Germany felt – and continue to feel – that the time had come to strike directly at the infrastructure of the genocide industry here as well.

That moment arrived only this fall. On September 8, five activists entered a factory belonging to the Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in the southern German city of Ulm. They filmed themselves, unmasked, damaging equipment and holding documents up to the camera. They then allowed themselves to be arrested without resistance.

READ: UN experts urge UK to protect lives of pro-Palestine hunger strikers

‘Terrorists‘ there, ‘criminals‘ here

While in Britain thousands have taken to the streets since PA was designated a ‘terrorist organisation this summer – despite the risk of long prison sentences – the situation surrounding the so-called ‘Ulm Five‘ has so far remained strikingly quiet. The reasons are obvious: the group had no years-long history of actions through which to establish itself; the Palestine solidarity movement in Germany remains highly fragmented; even many activists only marginally noticed the action. Finally, the repression faced by the ‘Ulm Five’ – at least so far – has not reached the same extreme levels seen in Britain.

Unlike their British counterparts, the German authorities don’t accuse the activists of belonging to a ‘terrorist organisation  a charge made possible by Section 129a of the Criminal Code, introduced in 1976. Instead, they are accused of forming a ‘criminal organisation‘ under Section 129, which carries a potential sentence of up to five years in prison. This alleged offense would be added to the charges of property damage already leveled against them.

Section 129, originally intended to combat organized crime, is increasingly being deployed against political groups. Most recently, it has been used against young climate activists and militant anti-fascists. In practice, this amounts to a kind of ‘light‘ version of a terrorist designation – while simultaneously denying the political nature of the accused and treating them as ordinary criminals.

Harassment and struggle behind bars

The treatment of the imprisoned activists is similarly harsh and legally questionable, according to a report by seven lawyers representing the five. As in Britain, they have been denied release on bail. The lawyers also describe harassment immediately following the arrests: the activists were forced to undress and wait in their cells wearing only underwear – women without brassieres included. For 30 hours they received almost no food, and in one case medically prescribed medication was withheld for 20 hours. Interrogations were conducted in the absence of legal counsel.

The harassment has continued. Several prisoners are reportedly held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. One individual was denied access to their lawyer for two weeks; in another case, contact with family was blocked for an entire month. Meetings with attorneys remain severely restricted, and family visits are in some cases limited to one hour per month. All communication is fully monitored, and letters are arbitrarily withheld.

While eight PA activists in Britain have been on hunger strike since early November to protest their conditions of detention – and are now said to be in life-threatening condition – the imprisoned ‘Ulm Five’ have not yet resorted to this drastic measure. But neither in Britain nor in Germany would they be the first political prisoners to turn their bodies into weapons against repression. And as the history of the Irish liberation struggle and West Germany’s urban guerrilla movements makes clear, those in power – there as here – have shown little hesitation in allowing prisoners to die.

OPINION: German politicians and police on lobby trips to Israel

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA

Continue ReadingGermany: Imprisoned ‘Palestine Action’ activists face harassment

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

Spread the love

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

Protest isn’t harassment, says group suing UK government over law change

Spread the love

 Original article by Anita Mureithi republished from OpenDemocracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. 

Protesters gather in Parliament Square, London, to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, 21 February 2024
 | Alberto Pezzali/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Human rights group Liberty says spotlight on MPs’ safety has seen Tories ‘vilify’ Palestine marchers

Ahuman rights campaign group suing the government for forcing through anti-protest laws says people who go on Palestine marches are being “vilified” to “stoke division”.

Liberty is today challenging the home secretary, James Cleverly, in the High Court over a decision by his predecessor Suella Braverman to introduce new legislation targeting protesters that had already been rejected by Parliament.

The case comes in a week where protest rights are in the spotlight. Pro-Palestine marches are being labelled a threat to MPs and the Home Affairs Select Committee has called on the government to force organisers to give more notice.

Speaking to openDemocracy ahead of the hearing, Liberty director Akiko Hart said: “We’re seeing both our fundamental rights of protest being undermined, but also specific protests like the pro-Palestinian marches being vilified.”

Hart took aim at the “incredibly irresponsible rhetoric from senior politicians where protest is equated to intimidation and harassment”.

MPs’ safety fears were raised last week following chaos in the House of Commons over a symbolic vote on a ceasefire in Gaza. Though some MPs have reported an increase in abuse and threats, campaigners warn that peaceful protests are now being associated with terrorism in order to undermine them.

“There were legitimate concerns around MPs’ safety – obviously, two MPs have been murdered in the last ten years,” she said. “We need to take that very, very seriously. I would also say that it’s MPs who are racialised who are most at risk from harassment, and that’s what the evidence shows us.

“But to conflate harassment with protest, which is what’s happening this week, is really dangerous and irresponsible. There are laws in place to deal with harassment and abuse. That isn’t the same as legitimate protest.”

In its recommendations, the Home Affairs Select Committee said more notice was needed ahead of Palestine marches because the size and frequency of the protests is a burden on police resources. But according to the coalition organising the national Palestine marches, the measures would further limit the right to peaceful protest. Hart also said the current notice period of six days is enough for police to prepare for marches.

“Extending that will just restrict people’s ability to be able to make their voices heard. With this, as with any other issue, the point about protest is that it is not about whether or not you agree – it’s about our right to protest,” she explained.

Liberty was given the green light to sue Braverman in October after she used secondary legislation – which doesn’t get the same level of parliamentary scrutiny – to allow police to restrict or shut down any protest that could cause “more than minor disruption to the life of the community”.

“It shouldn’t be the case that you would have to take the home secretary to court with all the time and effort and energy and expertise that that involves,” said Hart. “The reason we are doing so is because of the then home secretary’s egregious act of circumventing Parliament.”

The government previously tried to insert the new powers into the Public Order Act 2023 in January last year, but was blocked by the Lords.

The point about protest is that it is not about whether or not you agree – it’s about our right to protest

Liberty believes a win “would be a powerful check against any future minister or government that intends to do the same thing”.

Hart told openDemocracy that there have already been clear examples of the impact of anti-protest laws that have come through the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts (‘Policing’) Act and the Public Order Act, which both give police more powers to restrict protests.

“There were anti-monarchy protesters who were arrested on the basis that the luggage straps that they were carrying were seen to be tools for locking-on, which was a new offence created under the Public Order Act, but they were carrying them to secure their placards.

“We’re also seeing it in sentencing. Last summer, the Court of Appeal upheld the sentences of the two protesters who scaled the Dartford crossing. And those sentences were two years and seven months, and three years – the harshest sentences ever handed down in modern times around protests around civil disobedience,” she said.

The trial against the home secretary is expected to run for two days at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Hart told openDemocracy that while she and Liberty’s team of lawyers are feeling optimistic, “there’s a level of underlying exhaustion at how this government is conducting itself and responding to the protests that are happening”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The right to peaceful protest is fundamental; the right to disrupt the hard-working public is not.

“We have taken action to give police the powers they need to tackle criminal tactics used by protesters such as locking on and slow marching, as well as interfering with key national infrastructure.

“We work closely with the police to make sure they have the tools they need to tackle disorder and minimise disruption.”

Get OpenDemocracy’s free daily email

 Original article by Anita Mureithi republished from OpenDemocracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. 

Continue ReadingProtest isn’t harassment, says group suing UK government over law change