The sun had not yet risen on November 16, 1989 when a group of Salvadoran Army soldiers surrounded the Pastoral Center of the University of Central America in San Salvador, and began pounding upon the doors and windows. They yelled for the Jesuit priests sleeping inside to come out. One of the priests appeared on…
An important message from the United Nations on Human Rights Day. The goal – guaranteeing the universality of the human rights of all peoples – seems at first glance more remote and unlikely a possibility as ever. Yet everywhere one cares to look, assuming the willingness to seek information beyond the for-profit corporate media gatekeepers so…
Among the greatest disappointments with the presidency of Barack Obama – there are so many – none are greater than the last, his failure to grant clemency to or pardon the United States’ most famous political prisoner, Leonard Peltier. Peltier turns 73 today, September 12, the 15,194th day of his incarceration. Here’s the latest message…
He’d been in the office and the news headlines so long, it’s easy to forget just how reprehensible and inhumane was the man’s treatment of the detainees and inmates in his charge over the years, but former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona Joe Arpaio has now become the recipient of a presidential pardon from Donald…
Here’s an urgent message from Robert Naiman of Just Foreign Policy: I need you to make a plan to call your Senators at 1-855-68-NO-WAR. [1-855-686-6927]. With the Senate, it’s always hard to know for sure when a vote will be. We now believe that a Senate vote on Trump’s Saudi arms deal is expected by Tuesday…
Access to clean water is a human right, but who guarantees our human rights are observed? Under the terms of a recent court settlement, it will be 2020 before the old, lead-lined and galvanized steel water pipes of all the residents of Flint, Michigan are completely replaced. For a CNN timeline of the Flint water…
Adequate health care is a human right. The push for universal, single payer Medicare for All is on. This speech was given atthe first stop in the Democratic Party unity tour that DNC Chair Tom Perez and Sen. Bernie Sanders have embarked upon. For more on this effort to unite a deeply fractured party behind…
The folks behind the civil and human rights resolution recently passed by the Petaluma City Council have posted an update and notice of an upcoming meeting on March 22 at the Peace and Justice Center in Santa Rosa. There’s no guaranteeing it won’t happen here without you. Read on – RR. MAR 8, 2017 — …
Published on Dec 11, 2013
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As the world focuses on Tuesday’s historic handshake between President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro, we look back at the pivotal role Cuba played in ending apartheid and why Castro was one of only five world leaders invited to speak at Nelson Mandela’s memorial. In the words of Mandela, the Cuban “destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the white oppressor … [and] inspired the fighting masses of South Africa.” Historian Piero Gleijeses argues that it was Cuba’s victory in Angola in 1988 that forced Pretoria to set Namibia free and helped break the back of apartheid South Africa. We speak to Gleijeses about his new book, “Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991,” and play archival footage of Mandela meeting Fidel Castro in Cuba.
A public hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, November 17, 2016. From the Commission: A year and a half after the escalation of conflict between the northern Yemeni Houthi movement in alliance with forces still loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and an international Coalition led by Saudi Arabia seeking to restore…
