By Just Visit Western Sahara, May 26, 2022
https://worldbeyondwar.org/three-u-s-women-human-rights-defenders-deport...

Three US women heading to visit their friends in Boujdour, Western Sahara, were forcibly turned back on May 23rd, when they landed at Laayoune Airport. Twelve men and six women Moroccan agents physically overpowered them and placed them against their will on a plane back to Casablanca. During the scuffle, one of the women’s shirt and bra were pulled up to expose her breasts. In the cultural context of the passengers on the plane, this was a serious form of harassment and violence against women.

Wynd Kaufmyn said of her treatment by the Moroccan forces, “We refused to cooperate with their illegal actions. I repeatedly shouted out on the departing airplane that I wanted to go to Boujdour to visit Sultana Khaya, who has endured torture and rape at the hands of Moroccan agents.

Our 95th Green Grassroots Election Protection (GREE-GREE) zoom begins with celebrations of the shut-down of Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plant and the ouster of Australia’s awful right-wing anti-Earth prime minister.  

TATANKA BRICCA embraces new labor union support for Green New Deal legislation as it proceeds in California.

We also honor Russian diplomat BORIS BONDAROV for his enormously courageous denunciation of dictator Putin’s fascist assault on the people of Ukraine. 

MIKE HERSH and STEVE ROSENFELD give us the rundown on key primary races, including Pennsylvania and Oregon.

CAROLYN HARDING updates the insanity of gerrymandering in Ohio and her own expulsion from the State House…also known as the Hall of the Living Dead.

LYNN BERNSTEIN and JOHN BRAKEY update their own expulsions from the parking lot (!) of the election center in Wake County, North Carolina, along with commentary from JOEL SEGAL.

JULIE WEINER and LULU FRIESDAT report on major confrontations over voting machines and other election issues in New York.

PAT MARIDA explains the latest pro-nuke push in Ohio.

Another terrorist slips into the classroom, into the news.

Does anyone understand this? Even if guns are easily, readily available, why, why, why? I find it impossible even to be angry — it’s hard to be angry under incomprehensible circumstances.

Instead, I find myself imagining George W. Bush giving a speech in which he condemns the latest horrific murders at . . . but instead of saying Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, he blurts out “Iraq.”

The Free Press is proud to announce that a cartoonist we publish, Clayton Jones of Virginia, is the 2022 winner of the RFK Human Rights Journalism Award in Editorial Cartooning. His work was awarded for its "unique style" which is "energetic" using "image and text to comment on larger issues." They stated that his cartoons hit on themes of human rights, imbalance of power and systemic racism. His work can be seen at freepress.org, columbusfreepress.com and our Facebook pages. 

"Winners of the 2022 RFK Journalism Awards were selected in student and professional categories from over 350 entries across print, broadcast, and new media categories, encapsulating some of the most exemplary reporting from the past year," PR Newswire reported.