Detroit Overtaxed Residents Are Fighting Back
Rashida Tlaib | zcomm.org | 2020-02-18
In Detroit, a showdown between progressive lawmakers and the city is taking on racist housing policies that robbed African Americans in Detroit of their homes and widened the racial wealth gap…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/detroit-overtaxed-residents-are-fighting-back/
Libya's GNA scraps peace talks after attack on ship 'loaded with weapons' at Tripoli port
rt.com | 2020-02-18
The Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya has suspended UN-brokered ceasefire talks with the Libyan National Army after an LNA attack on a port in the capital on Tuesday. | "Today there was a renewed violation of the truce with the targeting of civilian facilities in the capital," the GNA said in statement, adding "we hereby suspend our participation in the military talks that are taking place in Geneva until a firm stand is taken against the aggressor and their violations." | The attack
When Your Doctor Is Also a Lobbyist: Inside the War Over Surprise Medical Bills
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-02-18
When Carol Pak-Teng, an emergency room doctor in New Jersey, hosted a fundraiser in December for Democratic freshman Rep. Tom Malinowski, her guests, mostly doctors, were pleased when she steered the conversation to surprise medical bills. | This was a chance to send a message to Washington that any surprise billing legislation should protect doctors' incomes in their battle over payments with insurers. Lawmakers are grappling over several approaches to curtail the practice, which can leave…
truthout.org/articles/when-your-doctor-is-also-a-lobbyist-inside-the-war-over-surprise-medical-bills/
Major Renovation Project at Negro Bar
California State Parks | indybay.org | 2020-02-18
170 years ago the Gold Mining Town of Negro Bar was established along Historic Rancho Rio De Los Americano, owned by the "African Founding Father of California" Don Guillermo Leidesdorff or William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/16/18830716.php
The Slave Trade Used to Be Legal. Let's Not Glorify the Law
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-02-18
Throughout the history of Black America, progress has often required breaking the law. For this reason, it's worth questioning why, in sanitized mainstream narratives (for example, those shared in schools and government functions during Black History Month), the story of Black struggle is often divorced from incendiary, illegal acts. Most Black people in the United States are descended from enslaved Africans, and being Black in this country has never been wholly separated from that history. In fact, it still ha…
truthout.org/articles/the-slave-trade-used-to-be-legal-lets-not-glorify-the-law/
2021 World Ag Expo – Expanding CA Pan African Trade
Khubaka, Michael Harris | indybay.org | 2020-02-18
Throughout the 2020 World Ag Expo, in the cities of Visalia, Tulare and Three Rivers the notion of expanding Pan African Trade embraced with open arms. It is time.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/17/18830744.php
Russian FM Lavrov, Defence Minister Shoigu Hold Joint Presser With Italian Counterparts – Video
sputniknews.com | 2020-02-18
Speaking to the Italian newspaper La Stampa on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that he regarded the upcoming meeting in the 2+2 format as a good opportunity to assess the issues of arms control and strategic stability as well as the situation in Libya and Syria in order to take coordinated measures.
sputniknews.com/world/202002181078341965-russian-fm-lavrov-defence-minister-shoigu-hold-joint-presser-with-italian-counterparts—video/
Haftar-Led Libyan National Army Says It Destroyed a Turkish Vessel With Weapons in Port of Tripoli
sputniknews.com | 2020-02-18
Ankara previously deployed military advisors and instructors to Libya to support the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) against the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Khalifa Haftar.
sputniknews.com/world/202002181078342678-haftar-led-libyan-national-army-says-it-destroyed-a-turkish-vessel-with-weapons-in-port-of-tripoli/
A year of record climate disasters in Africa
Susan Price | greenleft.org.au | 2020-02-18
Climate Nnimmo BasseyIssue 1254 Africa Paris agreement Climate DebtFebruary 18, 2020While the world literally burns from climate and political turmoil, it is possible for Africa and other vulnerable regions…
greenleft.org.au/content/year-record-climate-disasters-africa
The America We Want to Be
Laila Lalami | thenation.com | 2020-02-17
The America We Want to Be…
thenation.com/article/society/travel-ban-trump-nigeria/
EU Members to Launch New Mission to Enforce Libyan Arms Embargo
telesurenglish.net | 2020-02-17
European Union foreign affairs ministers agreed Monday to launch a new operation in the Mediterranean to enforce a United Nations arms embargo on Libya. | RELATED: | Libya Arms Embargo Has Become a Joke: UN Envoy | "We all agreed to create a mission to block the entry of arms into Libya," Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi di Maio said, adding that the mission would include a naval element to enforce the embargo – a sticking point for some member states. | The news was confirmed by his Ger…
telesurenglish.net/news/EU-Members-to-Launch-New-Mission-to-Enforce-Libyan-Arms-Embargo-20200217-0016.html
Marxism and the Climate Crisis: African Eco-Socialist Alternatives
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-02-16
There is a rich inheritance of emancipatory Marxism in Africa, which includes Frantz Fanon, Ruth First, Samir Amin, Sam Moyo, Harold Wolpe and many others. Today, Satgar argues, the challenge is to defeat carbon capitalism accelerating the climate crisis and fomenting exclusionary nationalisms and for this there has to be a return to Marx. | Source…
mronline.org/2020/02/16/marxism-and-the-climate-crisis-african-eco-socialist-alternatives/
Marxism and the Climate Crisis: African Eco-Socialist Alternatives
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-02-16
There is a rich inheritance of emancipatory Marxism in Africa, which includes Frantz Fanon, Ruth First, Samir Amin, Sam Moyo, Harold Wolpe and many others. Today, Satgar argues, the challenge is to defeat carbon capitalism accelerating the climate crisis and fomenting exclusionary nationalisms and for this there has to be a return to Marx. | Source…
mronline.org/2020/02/16/marxism-and-the-climate-crisis-african-eco-socialist-alternatives/
Painting A True Christ
Edward Curtin | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-02-15
There's an early scene in Terrence Malik's masterful new film
Canadian NGO Coalition aligns with Imperialism
Yves Engler | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-02-15
The Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC) exists primarily to lobby for increased aid. As a result, the NGO umbrella group broadly aligns with Canadian imperialism. When Justin Trudeau recently set off for an African Union Summit to build support for the government's bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council the CCIC …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/02/canadian-ngo-coalition-aligns-with-imperialism/
Guinea-Bissau: Swearing-in of new President unlikely to bring stability, says UN representative
news.un.org | 2020-02-14
Political discord in Guinea-Bissau could hamper the first-ever peaceful transfer of power to a democratically elected leader, the top UN official in the West African country told the Security Council on Friday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/02/1057441
Detroit Overtaxed Residents by $600M, Causing Foreclosure Crisis. Residents Are Now Fighting Back
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-02-14
In Detroit, a showdown between progressive lawmakers and the city is taking on racist housing policies that robbed African Americans in Detroit of their homes and widened the racial wealth gap. On Thursday, the Coalition for Property Tax Justice announced a class-action lawsuit against the city of Detroit, Wayne County and the state of Michigan in response to unfair property tax foreclosures. One in four Detroit properties have been subject to property tax foreclosure, a level comparable only to tax foreclosure rates during the Great Depression. According to legal experts, many of the foreclosures were caused by…
www.democracynow.org/2020/2/14/detroit_class_action_lawsuit_foreclosures
Newly licensed vaccine, 'milestone in the fight' against Ebola in Africa, UN health agency
news.un.org | 2020-02-14
Four countries in Africa have licensed an Ebola vaccine to "cement hard-fought progress" in keeping their people safe from the deadly disease, the UN health agency said on Friday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/02/1057461
Year-old peace agreement must be implemented for 'lasting peace' in Central African Republic
news.un.org | 2020-02-13
Following a visit to the Central African Republic, a UN independent expert said that everyone must take all measures necessary to effectively implement the peace agreement that was signed in Bangui a year ago.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/02/1057371
Did Amy Klobuchar Send an Innocent Teenager to Life in Prison? Questions Mount over Her Record as DA
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-02-13
After a surprising third-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is attempting to gain ground in the national polls. But Klobuchar is also facing mounting scrutiny over her record as a district attorney in Minnesota. The Minneapolis NAACP, Black Lives Matter Twin Cities and other racial justice groups recently called on Klobuchar to suspend her presidential campaign following a shocking investigation by the Associated Press. The AP report centered on the case of Myon Burrell, an African-American teenager who was sentenced to life in prison over the 2002 murder of 11-year-old Tye…
www.democracynow.org/2020/2/13/amy_klobuchar_myon_burrell
DR Congo Ebola outbreak still an international public health concern
news.un.org | 2020-02-12
The Ebola virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains an international public health concern, experts meeting in Geneva concluded on Wednesday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/02/1057291
Libya's cities left 're-contaminated' by months of fighting, warn landmine clearance experts
news.un.org | 2020-02-12
Ongoing hostilities in Libya have left numerous cities severely "re-contaminated" with unexploded ordnance, threatening schools, universities and hospitals, the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said on Wednesday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/02/1057271
Libya: Security Council demands commitment to 'a lasting ceasefire'
news.un.org | 2020-02-12
After what has reportedly been weeks of diplomatic negotiation, the UN Security Council passed a resolution on Wednesday aimed at stemming rising violence across Libya, demanding the warring parties commit to "a lasting ceasefire" according to terms agreed by military representatives from both sides at recent talks in Geneva.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/02/1057311
South Bend Politician: I Worked with Pete Buttigieg. He Did Not Respect Black Residents' Struggles
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-02-12
2020 presidential candidate and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg has surprised many with his strong showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, two of the country's whitest states. But as the race moves on to South Carolina and Nevada, Buttigieg continues to poll extremely low with African-American voters. His own former constituents are condemning his treatment of the black community in South Bend during his time as mayor, calling out systemic racism in the police force. During Buttigieg's tenure, black residents were 4.3 times more likely to be arrested for possessing marijuana than white people. We…
www.democracynow.org/2020/2/12/pete_buttigieg_south_bend_black_community
Feminist Scholar Barbara Smith on Identity Politics & Why She Supports Bernie Sanders for President
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-02-12
We speak with the legendary African-American feminist scholar Barbara Smith. She is a founder of the Combahee River Collective and of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. Barbara Smith recently wrote a column in The Guardian newspaper titled "I helped coin the term 'identity politics'. I'm endorsing Bernie Sanders." Her latest book is "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building with Barbara Smith."
www.democracynow.org/2020/2/12/barbara_smith_identity_politics_bernie_sanders
How climate change is driving food insecurity
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2020-02-11
Food security Pat BrewerIssue 1253 Australia East Africa desert locustsFebruary 11, 2020Along with extreme fires, a feature of a rapidly changing climate, Australia is experiencing droughts, floods, and…
greenleft.org.au/content/how-climate-change-driving-food-insecurity
Weekend Read: 2020: African Americans and the Vote
splcenter.org | 2020-01-29
Historian Carter G. Woodson in 1926 established "Negro History Week" to celebrate the contributions to our nation made by Black people.
splcenter.org/news/2020/02/01/weekend-read-2020-african-americans-and-vote