I’ve held off from commenting of the violence in Amsterdam because it’s difficult to know what happened without being. This report appears comprehensive.
Tag: violence
Naples protests G7 “lords of war”healthcare
Original article by Ana Vračar republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
Source: Ex OPG occupato – Je so’ pazzo/Facebook Over 2,000 people took to the streets of Naples against soaring military spending in Europe and increased repression of dissent as G7 defense ministers convened for high-level talks
Thousands of people took to the streets of Naples on October 19, demonstrating against the G7 military agenda and Italy’s proposed reforms that would limit the freedom to dissent. Protesters, representing a host of organizations including student associations, trade unions, and community centers, rallied against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government’s policies, demanding a shift in priorities toward social needs instead of military spending. Side by side with the protest in Naples, demonstrations were held in dozens of cities across Italy, as reported by the left political party, Power to the People (Potere al Popolo).
Protesters carrying a banner reading “Cut the weapons, raise the wages!”. Source: Ex OPG occupato – Je so’ pazzo/Facebook The protest was organized to counter a G7 defense ministers’ meeting that took place in Naples from October 18 to 20, with a focus on global military goals. The meeting was seen by protesters as yet another example of Western countries deepening their involvement in wars, including the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the war in Ukraine, instead of pursuing agendas of social justice and peace. In the lead-up to the meeting, local activists voiced their opposition, stating that “lords of war” were not welcome in their city.
“Never has so much been spent on war, and as a result, war is rampant everywhere,” the associations organizing the march asserted during the preparations. “We refuse to host a meeting in our city that supports the war economy our government has chosen to follow.”
Two central issues dominated the protest in Naples: the West’s support for Israel as it continues to exterminate the people of Gaza and the increasing repression of dissent at home, embodied in Meloni’s proposed security bill. Many protesters pointed out the link between military aggression abroad and domestic policies that seek to criminalize dissent. European countries continue to actively repress solidarity with Palestine and others, like Italy, are doing so while attempting to silence voices against their policies.
Read more: Pro-Palestine activists are under attack in Europe
The new security bill seeks to impose severe restrictions on protests, including strikes and environmental activism. Progressive associations argue that this is a blatant attempt to stifle opposition and consolidate power, and some of them saw Saturday’s protest as a test run for the government’s strategy of suppressing future mobilizations. Days before the protest, authorities tried to restrict the march route, forcing organizers to end the demonstration a kilometer away from the G7 meeting site.
Despite these attempts, protesters refused to be stopped. They briefly broke through the set course of the rally, marching in areas originally declared off-limits by the authorities. In response, police deployed tear gas and used other forms of violence against them. Naples’ historic center has systematically been blocked off to popular protests, and things are set to get worse if the new bill is passed, protesters said. Because of that, community groups including Ex OPG – Je so’ pazzo called upon people to continue resisting.
“We believe this repressive project must be stopped, and more importantly, we see it as a reflection of the Meloni government’s fear of what might still be burning beneath the surface of the seeming calm in the country,” they said.
Read more: Meloni government targets dissent with a new security bill
Saturday’s protest marked an important moment of resistance against the shrinking of democratic space in Italy, as well as to the strengthening of the armament agenda in Europe. Demonstrators announced they were ready to continue fighting against the security bill and expressed determination to challenge Meloni’s government over announced cuts to social support.
“Today, this square is sending a loud message: if the government thinks it can ignore social needs, public healthcare, workers’ rights, and housing in favor of pouring billions into military spending, it’s headed in the wrong direction,” said Chiara Capretti from Power to the People.
Original article by Ana Vračar republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
Zarah Sultana: The enemy of the working class travels by private jet, not migrant dinghy
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/09/enemy-working-class-far-right
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The fuse may have been set alight by online disinformation and secretive social media channels, but this explosion of far-right violence has been decades in the making. And while Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) and his mob of far-right agitators are its immediate instigators, much of Britain’s political and media class is complicit in laying the groundwork for this eruption of hate.
This truth of how we reached this point flips the normal classist narrative about racism in Britain. The reality is that racism isn’t a bottom-up expression of popular discontent, but a top-down project propagated by people in positions of power.
Just think about how the billionaire-owned rightwing press drip-feeds hate into British politics, splashing fearmongering headlines across their papers: “Islamist plotters in schools across the UK” – the Telegraph; “1 in 5 Brit Muslims’ sympathy for jihadis” – the Sun; “Migrants spark housing crisis” – the Daily Mail.
Or think how Conservative politicians normalise far-right rhetoric, dehumanising people and spreading hate. From “one nation” Conservatives such as David Cameron who as prime minister described migrants as a “swarm”, to the likes of Suella Braverman who as home secretary said there was a migrant “invasion”. Rishi Sunak’s “Stop the boats” slogan is now a far-right chant and just this week the Tory party leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick said the police should “immediately arrest” people shouting “Allahu Akbar” on the street, the Arabic phrase meaning “God is great” – the equivalent of a Christian saying “hallelujah”.
This rhetoric was propagated further by the privately educated, former City trader Nigel Farage, who claims to be a man of the people. In the general election campaign, he said many Muslims didn’t share “British values” and this week promoted the “two-tier policing” conspiracy.
But it’s not just rightwing politicians, pundits and publications at fault. So-called centrists too often refuse to push back against this hate as well, sometimes peddling the same dangerous tropes or dismissing the concerns of those subject to this hatred.
I was confronted by this painful reality just this week. On Monday morning I was invited on to ITV’s Good Morning Britain to talk about the recent racist riots, only to be interrogated – and it did feel like an interrogation – about why I, a Muslim MP, thought it was important to call the recent racist violence Islamophobic. “Why is it important to use that specific word?” Kate Garraway repeatedly questioned me.
Almost before I could answer, and behaving with the same sneering condescension he did throughout the segment, the former Labour shadow chancellor and now broadcaster Ed Balls repeatedly interrupted me, seemingly incredulous that I thought this hate should be called by its proper name. The show has now been hit with more than 8,200 Ofcom complaints about that morning’s episode, many of them about his handling of my interview.
This wasn’t a one-off, even for Ed Balls. In the summer of 2010, as he set out his Labour leadership pitch in the Guardian, Balls blamed “eastern European migrants” for a “direct impact on the wages, terms and conditions of too many people”. He’s far from the only Labour figure to echo rightwing talking points: from then leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw, who in 2006 said that he asked veiled Muslim women to remove their veils in meetings with him, to the former Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth recently claiming asylum seekers can stay in hotels for “the rest of their lives”.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/09/enemy-working-class-far-right
Bangladesh’s Supreme Court scraps most of government job quota amidst widespread protests and violence
Original article by Abdul Rahman republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
Quota reform protesters in Bangladesh. Photo: Rownak Shahriar Ruhan/ Wikimedia commons Amidst widespread violence across the country over the controversial quota in government jobs, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court issued a crucial verdict on Sunday, July 21 scaling back the quotas drastically.
As per the verdict, 93% government jobs would be based on merit and the overall quota would be reduced to 7% from the current 56%. Descendants of ‘freedom fighters’ who currently have 30% of posts reserved for them would now only get 5% reservation. The remaining 2% of reserved jobs would be allotted to candidates belonging to sexual and ethnic minorities in the country and the physically disabled.
According to various reports, around 140 people, including a large number of students, were killed in the violent clashes last week between security forces and students who have been opposing the high quota. The protests remained by and large peaceful, until last Monday July 15 when they turned violent after an alleged attack carried out by pro-government students backed by the country’s security forces.
Most of the deaths have been reported from the capital Dhaka where protesters clashed with the security forces and attacked metro rail stations and even a jail in nearby Narsingdi. However, several other parts of the country were also affected by the violence.
Despite the Supreme Court judgment on Sunday, some of the student leaders declared they will continue their protests. According to an Al Jazeera report, protesters are now demanding the resignation of home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, holding him responsible for the violence and killing of people. They are also demanding release of all people arrested during last week’s protests. Some others have called the Supreme Court verdict vague and wanted more clarity on it before calling off the protests, Reuters reported.
The ruling Awami League has however stated that the otherwise “legitimate protests” by students have been “hijacked” by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and some extremist groups in the country. It alleged that those opposition parties who could not win through popular elections have been looking for an opportunity to destabilize the Hasina government which won its fourth consecutive term earlier this year in January. BNP had boycotted the elections.
Following the Supreme Court judgment Attorney General A. M. Amin Uddin expressed hope that “normalcy will return” and “people with ulterior motives will stop instigating people,” Reuters reported.
Violent escalation
On Tuesday, a day after the violence broke out, the government led by Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League ordered shutting down of all universities, colleges, and high schools in the country for an indefinite period.
Later on Friday, the government called in the army and imposed a curfew with shoot-on-sight orders following the spread of violence all across the country. Internet and other communication services were also suspended.
In the meanwhile, protesters rejected the government’s offer of talks regarding their demands and continued to mobilize large-scale demonstrations against the quota system.
The government in response had called on protesters to wait for the Supreme Court judgment before further steps could be taken to address their concerns.
Protesters alleged that the government was reluctant to ban the quota as it benefited the members of the ruling party and its supporters. However, the government had argued that the quota was an acknowledgment of the sacrifices made by people during the freedom struggle.
Quota controversy
The Awami League was at the forefront of Bangladesh’s war of liberation in 1971 against Pakistan in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed by Pakistan’s army and local collaborators known as Razakars. The quota in government jobs was first constituted by Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman immediately after he became the first prime minister of independent Bangladesh as a way to recognize the sacrifices made by the people.
Due to rising unemployment among the country’s youth and crisis in the economy, these quotas became increasingly unpopular. After a student protest in 2018, the Hasina government issued a circular scrapping the quota system for recruitment to 1st and second class jobs. However, in June this year, a High Court order annulled the 2018 circular, thus making the quotas effective again. This verdict was what sparked the latest round of large scale student protests which turned violent last week. On Sunday, the Supreme Court called the High Court’s judgment illegal.
The verdict on Sunday however, also scrapped the 10% quota each for women and people from underdeveloped districts and the 5% quota for religious minorities in government jobs.
Progressive sections in the country including the Workers Party of Bangladesh (BWP) and the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) had earlier demanded that these “progressive” quotas for women and minorities be protected and that a process be initiated to fulfill other legitimate demands of reforms.
Original article by Abdul Rahman republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
West Bank Pogrom ‘Underscores Urgent Need to Dismantle Apartheid’: Amnesty
Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Mourners carry the body of one of the Palestinian men killed during an Israeli settlers’ attack on the village of Aqraba in the illegally occupied West Bank on April 19, 2024. (Photo: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP via Getty Images) “The appalling spike in settler violence against Palestinians in recent days is part of a decadeslong state-backed campaign to dispossess, displace, and oppress Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” said one Amnesty official.
Amnesty International said Monday that the ongoing surge in deadly violence by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank “underscores [the] urgent need to dismantle apartheid” in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.
For more than a week now, Israeli settlers have been attacking West Bank Palestinians in towns and villages including Al-Mughayir, Duma, Deir Dibwan, Beitin, and Aqraba, killing at least four people including a child; wounding dozens of others; and destroying homes, vehicles, and other property.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops have either stood and watched or participated in the settler attacks, which the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and others are calling a “pogrom.”
Amnesty said the “alarming spike in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank in recent days highlights the urgent need to dismantle illegal settlements, end Israel’s occupation of the occupied Palestinian territories, and its longstanding system of apartheid.
“The appalling spike in settler violence against Palestinians in recent days is part of a decadeslong state-backed campaign to dispossess, displace, and oppress Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, under Israel’s system of apartheid,” Amnesty Middle East and North Africa regional director Heba Morayef said. “Israeli forces have a track record of enabling settler violence and it is outrageous that once again Israeli forces stood by and in some cases took part in these brutal attacks.”
“Establishing Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories flagrantly violates international law and constitutes a war crime,” Morayef added. “Violence is integral to the establishment and expansion of these settlements and to sustaining apartheid. It’s time for the world to recognize this and pressure Israeli authorities to abide by international law by immediately halting settlement expansion and removing all existing settlements.”
The latest wave of settler violence was sparked by the disappearance of Binyamin Achimair, a 14-year-old Israeli from the illegal settler outpost of Mal’achei Hashalom who went missing on April 12 while herding sheep near the village of Al-Mughayir east of Ramallah. As Israelis searched for Achimair, settlers began attacking Al-Mughayir’s residents and property.
Achimair’s body was found the following day. Israeli officials said he was killed in a “terrorist attack.” However, no Palestinian resistance group has claimed responsibility for the incident. A 21-year-old Palestinian man was arrested Monday in alleged connection with the boy’s death.
Late Friday, IDF troops and armored vehicles surrounded the Nur Shams refugee camp east of Tulkarem and besieged the community of more than 6,000 Palestinians during a 50-hour raid in which residents were shot, homes were destroyed, and scores of people were arrested.
By Saturday, IDF soldiers had killed 14 people in the camp, including at least one child. More than 40 other Palestinians were wounded.
“I saw one of my relatives, Jihad Zandiq, put his hands in the air to the soldiers but then they shot him anyway from point-blank range and killed him. Half of his skull exploded,” eyewitness Mahmoud Qazmouz told Middle East Eye on Sunday.
Palestinian officials said Israeli troops attacked first responders attempting to rescue victims, including a volunteer paramedic who was shot in the leg.
Meanwhile, a funeral was held Sunday for Mohammed Awad Allah Musa, a 50-year-old Palestinian Red Crescent Society volunteer paramedic who was shot dead Saturday by Israeli settler-colonists while trying to reach Palestinians wounded by rampaging settlers in the town of Sa’wiyah south of Nablus.
The Nur Shams raid and ongoing settler attacks came as the U.S. State Department on Friday announced new sanctions targeting far-right Israeli settler leaders including Ben Zion Gopstein, the founder and head of the Jewish supremacist group Lehava.
The Biden administration—which backs Israel with billions of dollars in military aid and diplomatic support—is also reportedly considering imposing sanctions on the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion over war crimes committed in the West Bank before the current Israeli war on Gaza, including the January 2022 death of Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian American man.
Responding to the prospect of the first-ever U.S. sanctions on his country’s military, far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that “I will fight it with all my strength.”
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 485 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since October 7, when Gaza-based militants attacked Israel. More than 1,100 people were killed in the attack—some by responding Israeli forces—and over 240 Israelis and others were kidnapped by Hamas and other militants.
Israel’s 199-day retaliatory assault on Gaza—which critics including Israelis have called genocidal—has killed at least 34,151 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while wounding over 77,000 others, according to Palestinian and international officials. At least 11,000 Gazans are missing, presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of the hundreds of thousands of homes and other buildings that have been destroyed or damaged by Israeli bombardment. Around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, and Israel’s continued obstruction of humanitarian aid delivery has fueled a burgeoning famine in which dozens of people, mostly children, have perished.
Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
- Israeli Rights Group Condemns Settler ‘Pogrom’ Against Palestinians In West Bank ›
- Rights Group Says Israel Uses Settler Violence Against Palestinians To Take Over West Bank Land ›
- ‘This Is A Pogrom’: Omar Slams Continued US Military Aid For Israel Amid Settler Violence ›
- With All Eyes On Gaza, Israeli Soldiers And Settlers Kill Dozens Of West Bank Palestinians ›
- UN Condemns Israel’s ‘Unlawful Killings’ And Settler Violence In West Bank ›
