Global
“That's certainly our goal and our intention.” This was the non-committal answer given by White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, when, on February 12, she was asked by a reporter whether the new Joe Biden Administration intends to shut down the notorious Guantánamo Bay Prison by the end of the president’s first term in office.
Psaki’s answer may have seemed reassuring, that the untold suffering experienced by hundreds of men in this American gulag - many of whom were surely innocent – would be finally coming to an end. However, considering the history of Guantánamo and the trail of broken promises by the Barack Obama Administration, the new administration’s pledge is hardly encouraging.
On March 19th, climate activists around the world are taking to the street to demand immediate action on climate change. For too long, our leaders have delivered empty promises, while the climate crisis worsens and communities suffer. We have no time to wait.
Sunrise Columbus is calling for concrete action now. Join us at the Ohio State Capitol on March 19th, along with thousands worldwide in coordination with FridaysForFuture, to make your voice heard and demand climate justice.
We demand a greener Columbus, a just and sustainable Ohio, and a national Green New Deal for good jobs and a livable planet for all.
#NoMoreEmptyPromises
Bring a sign, a mask, water, comfortable shoes, and bring a friend or two to grow this movement.
Time
Friday, March 191 – 3pm EDT,
Undaunted, the pandemic can’t stop the Pan African Film Festival and in that immortal show biz tradition, the show must go on! Albeit virtually, as this year in order to stay cinematically safe, America’s largest and best annual Black-themed filmfest since 1992 is moving online and starting later than usual, kicking off on the last day of Black History Month. 2021’s 29th annual Pan African Virtual Film + Arts Festival is taking place from Feb. 28 – March 14.
Like love, film is a many splendored thing for PAFF. This unique filmfest screens productions in various formats and mediums – including features, documentaries, studio blockbusters like Coming 2 America, indies and animation – and also in a variety of lengths. The common thread PAFF weaves is a tapestry of works regarding the Black experience, from Timbuktu to Papua New Guinea to the Caribbean to L.A. and beyond, by and about Blacks. And often PAFF presents films that Angeleno moviegoers may never otherwise have an opportunity to view (and gives them a foothold in a world movie capital). So thanks to PAFF, I was able to behold two worthy short films.
CELESTE’S DREAM: GOOD GRIEF!
At a glance, it may appear that the split of Arab political parties in Israel is consistent with a typical pattern of political and ideological divisions which have afflicted the Arab body politic for many years. This time, however, the reasons behind the split are quite different.
The GOP Trump Cult has lost the American public.
So now it’s denying citizens of youth and color the right to vote.
That war now rages in the US Congress and in states gerrymandered for White Supremacy.
It’ll soon light up the US Supreme Court.
Whoever wins will run America for a long time to come.
It goes like this:
Yesterday (Wednesday, March 3rd) the Democrat-controlled House passed (220-210) the most sweeping omnibus voting rights bill in US history.
HR-1 codifies and protects many of the key procedures by which Americans voted in 2018 and 2020, and in the Georgia US Senate runoffs of 2021.
Those elections were swung by huge turnouts among voters of youth and color. They could cast ballots – and have them counted – thanks to protections prompted by the pandemic and by America’s powerful grassroots Election Protection movement, which has exploded since the stolen vote of Florida 2000.
Waiting in the wings is HR-4, inspired by the recently deceased Rep. John Lewis.
On February 4, representatives from the Palestinian Movement, Hamas, visited Moscow to inform the Russian government of the latest development on the unity talks between the Islamic Movement and its Palestinian counterparts, especially Fatah.
This was not the first time that Hamas’s officials traveled to Moscow on similar missions. In fact, Moscow continues to represent an important political breathing space for Hamas, which has been isolated by Israel's Western benefactors. Involved in this isolation are also several Arab governments which, undoubtedly, have done very little to break the Israeli siege on Gaza.
“For Washington, it seems that whatever the problem is, the answer is bombing.”
So wrote Stephen Zunes, in the wake of Joe Biden’s first act of murder as president . . . excuse me, his first act of defensive military action: bombing a border post in Syria last week, killing 22 of our enemies. This action, of course, will quickly be forgotten. “The United States has bombed Syria more than 20,000 times over the past eight years,” Zunes notes, adding:
Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council on February 24, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had an opportunity to demonstrate the Biden administration’s break with the past by establishing a new level of human rights leadership. He failed. Judging by Blinken’s speech, the US is determined to break no new ground in a world awash in continuing human rights atrocities.
To be sure, Blinken began with the high-minded rhetoric expected on such occasions:
What is taking place in Burma right now is a military coup. There can be no other description for such an unwarranted action as the dismissal of the government by military decree and the imposition of Min Aung Hlaing, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, as an unelected ruler.
However, despite the endless talk about democratization, Burma was, in the years leading up to the coup, far from being a true democracy.
Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the country’s erstwhile ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has done very little to bring about meaningful change since she was designated State Counselor.