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Protests

Armed protesters provide security as demonstrators take part in an "American Patriot Rally," on the steps of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, on April 30, 2020

For many cautious African Americans, the move to reopen America is not a ‘black friendly’ campaign

By COVID-19 (Coronavirus), News & Current Affairs

“Nothing about this movement is really black friendly.” By Nick Charles, NBC News — As protests erupt over stay-at-home orders and the clamor to reopen the economy becomes louder, the coalition of people storming state Capitols — some armed with semi-automatic weapons and most not wearing masks or observing social distancing guidelines — have had one thing in common: Almost all of them are white. African Americans, for the most…

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A police officer aims his weapon after demonstrators

Haiti protesters ask the international community to stop supporting their president

By News & Current Affairs

By Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald — A massive crowd of anti-government protesters in Haiti cranked up the pressure for President Jovenel Moïse to step down Friday, taking their resignation demands to the United Nation’s peacekeeping headquarters in Port-au-Prince, where they asked the international community to stop supporting the country’s leader. Tying up traffic in front of Toussaint Louverture International Airport, the demonstrators — who later burned tires in front of…

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Barack Obama at a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with governor-elect Tony Evers, Mandela Barnes and Sarah Godlewski on 26 October.

The new wave of Democrats owes a huge debt to people power.

By Commentaries/Opinions

The party was the natural political conduit for the protest movement. It must not betray that trust. By Gary Younge, The Guardian — With just a few thousand votes between the two candidates for governor, election night during the US midterms in Wisconsin could not have been more tense. The slender lead kept flipping between Republican and Democrat as various precincts reported their results. Then shortly before midnight a local news presenter suggested,…

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A woman dressed as death stands in front of Honduran security forces during protests in the capital, Tegucigalpa, with a sign that reads, "JOH [Juan Orlando Hernández] our deaths are on your conscience.

Inside the Corruption and Repression Forcing Hondurans to Flee to the US

By Commentaries/Opinions

Migrants are leaving not only because they fear gang violence, but because they are terrified of the brutal government. By Peter Tinti, Vice — Nineteen-year-old taxi driver Diego is not interested in politics. But his hometown of El Progreso—a transit hub in central Honduras, where everyone seems to have a friend or relative who has “gone north” to the US—has long been a hotbed of popular resistance. In 1954, workers…

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A woman protests at a town-hall meeting being held by Thomas Homan, acting director of enforcement for ICE, in Sacramento, California, March 28, 2017.

Against Civility

By Commentaries/Opinions

You can’t fight injustice with decorum. By Sarah Leonard, The Nation — Michelle Obama’s 2016 declaration that “when they go low, we go high” quickly became the unofficial motto of the anti-Trump resistance. But instead of being used against Trump himself, this attitude is now being wielded against protesters confronting his administration’s obscene immigration-detention policies. Even in the face of family separations, a racist travel ban, and overt, violent white…

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In this March 24, 2018 file photo, protesters fill Pennsylvania Avenue, as seen from the Newseum, during the “March for Our Lives” rally in support of gun control in Washington. Rachel Einwohner, a Purdue University sociology professor, says, “With the rise of social media, it’s definitely a lot easier for people to mobilize more quickly and you don’t necessarily need to have one charismatic leader like Dr. King, who had almost some kind of magical quality… But you still do need some powerful message that really resonates with a lot of people.”

Social media is the new heart of political protests

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Sharon Cohen — The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. marching arm-in-arm with other civil rights activists. Cesar Chavez hoisting a picket sign in a farm workers’ strike. Gloria Steinem rallying other feminists for equal rights. During the 1960s and into the 1970s, amid the turbulence of protests for civil rights and against the Vietnam War, every movement seemed to have a famous face — someone at a podium or at the front of a march who possessed a charismatic style, soaring oratory and an inspiring message.

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‘Something’s wrong in America.’ William Barber, a pastor, is one of the co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign.

Hundreds arrested as activists pick up where Martin Luther King left off

By News & Current Affairs

The Poor People’s campaign kicked off 40 days of nonviolent protest on Monday, reviving King’s anti-poverty efforts and demanding action. By Lauren Gambino — Hundreds of low-wage workers, faith leaders, civil rights organizers and liberal activists were arrested in demonstrations in Washington and in cities across the US on Monday as they resumed the work Martin Luther King left unfinished. Fifty years after King launched the Poor People’s Campaign against economic inequality, militarism…

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Martin Luther King - By Mr. Fish

The Danger of Leadership Cults

By Editors' Choice

By Chris Hedges — No leader, no matter how talented and visionary, effectively defies power without a disciplined organizational foundation. The civil rights movement was no more embodied in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. than the socialist movement was embodied in Eugene V. Debs. As the civil rights leader Ella Baker understood, the civil rights movement made King; King did not make the civil rights movement. We must focus on building new,…

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Demonstrators carry banners as they march during a protest in Ghana's capital Accra, March 28, 2018

‘Ghana not for sale’: Protesters march in Accra against military deal with US

By Editors' Choice

A controversial pact, in which the US military wants to invest $20 million and get access to Ghana’s runways and communications, set off rallies in the West African nation, with people chanting their country is “not for sale.” Thousands of people flocked to the streets of Accra, the capital of Ghana, to protest a military deal the government recently signed with the US. As part of the agreement, Washington would…

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Women demonstrate with street vendors in memory of Mame Mbaye in Madrid, Spain, on March 16, 2018. Hundreds of people, mostly black, protested in Barcelona by the death of Mame Mbaye, street vendor in Madrid who lost his life after the harassment by the municipal police of Madrid

Black Nationalist Women and Global Visions of Freedom

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Keisha N. Blain — The #MeToo movement in the United States is one of the contemporary expressions of women’s political power and evidence of women’s commitment to dismantling systems of oppression that give rise to sexual harassment and assault. The fact that a Black woman founded the movement is not surprising; especially considering the crucial role Black women have always played in shaping US and global politics. During the 20th century, a dynamic…

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Alex King and D'Angelo McDade at the March for Our Lives, Washington, DC, March 24, 2018

What Happens When You Put Young People of Color at the Center of #NeverAgain

By Commentaries/Opinions

Gun control becomes only one part of the larger solution to violence in our communities. By Lori Bezahler — The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have catalyzed a social movement demanding an end to gun violence. While their leadership and moral authority have undoubtedly taken the movement to another level, youth-led activism against gun violence is not, in fact, new. In Florida in 2013, for example…

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