Tens of thousands of protesters from across Mexico have gathered in Oaxaca City Nov. 5 to defy federal police control of the streets in what organizers are calling a "mega-march." Cars and buses from throughout the country arrived at Oaxaca‘s state university, which is controlled by protesters and is serving as a staging ground. Soldiers searched cars for weapons as they arrived on the outskirts of the city, and federal police unrolled razor wire in the city center. But under Mexican law the police cannot enter the university campus without the permission of the rector. Oaxaca rector Francisco Martinez has said police are not welcome.

Here we go again. This Nov. 1 commentary from the World Socialist Web Site (which is being echoed all over the left-wing blogosphere, e.g. on San Francisco Indymedia) relishes in the latest example of censorious behavior by Israel's apologists, under the rather obvious title "Zionists seek to silence critics of US policy toward Israel":

From Gush Shalom, Nov. 3:

Gaza: Stop the Siege! Stop the War!
A month of protest: November 4—December 2, 2006

The situation in Gaza has reached emergency levels—inadequate water, electricity, and medicine; widespread hunger, poverty, and unemployment; schools and other services out of operation; and constant bombardments and attacks by the Israeli military. The problem is the siege of the Gaza Strip by Israel and the sanctions imposed by the international community, made worse by ongoing IDF attacks. If this siege continues, we will see spreading disease, malnutrition, and anarchy.

Here we go again. Fox News has the following to say about their upcoming "documentary," Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, to air this weekend (strategically just before the mid-term elections, if that escaped your notice):

We see in "Obsession" how closely the Hitler youth bear resemblance to the young Islamic fundamentalists training with Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups. Of course, Nazi Germany did not train children in the use of suicide belts, as the Islamic fascists do. But manipulating the pliant minds of youth toward fanatical hatred employs the same techniques.

From the Chicago Tribune, Nov. 2:

Hispanic citizens sue government over raids

ATLANTA -- A civil rights group sued the federal government Wednesday on behalf of five Hispanic citizens who say they were detained and harassed by agents carrying out raids targeting illegal immigrants in south Georgia.

This is insidiously sinister—a step towards something akin to apartheid, two-tier citizenship. Not that we don't already have that, of course, but this is close to legally acknowleding it and legitimizing it. From the New York Times Nov. 3, via CivilRights.org:

From the BBC, Nov. 2:

A new Sultan of Sokoto, the spiritual leader of Nigeria's 70m Muslims, has been announced.

Colonel Muhammadu Sada Abubakar, 53, is the younger brother of Sultan Mohammadu Maccido, who was killed in a plane crash on Sunday, along with 95 others.

On Oct. 30, activists in Naples rallied at the local Mexican consulate in protest of the repression in Oaxaca, where Mexican President Vicente Fox has sent in a massive force of federal police. (Chiapas IMC) But Naples itself may soon be facing a similar dilemma. Following a crime wave which has left 12 dead over the past ten days, Prime Minister Romano Prodi is under growing pressure to send the army to patrol the southern port city. To his credit, he is thus far resisting the pressure. Meanwhile, the openly chauvinist Northern League frames the problem in its typically helpful and sensitive way. From AGI, Nov. 2: