A group of Turkish mothers whose sons and daughters were forcibly disappeared in the 1980s and '90s held a public vigil in Istanbul without police interference Nov. 11. This marked the first time the "Saturday Mothers" group has been allowed to proceed with such an event since police dispersed their last gathering in August 2018. The group's vigils had persisted for nearly three decades. The vigil was resumed after Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled earlier this year that suppression of the event violated participants' rights.

Iraq has taken in 192 families from Syria's al-Hol camp that houses persons accused of having links to the Islamic State (ISIS), an Iraqi member of parliament told the Kurdish Rudaw news agency on Nov. 12. A total of 780 individuals were returned to Iraq and will be placed in al-Jadaa Center for Community Rehabilitation in Nineveh province, acording to the report. The MP said the families will stay in al-Jadaa camp until they are given clearance from the Interior Ministry to return to their homes and issued identification documents.

Three Palestinian human rights groups, Al Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, filed a lawsuit Nov. 10 with the International Criminal Court (ICC) asking for an investigation into alleged crimes by Israel. The submission, which was made under Article 15 of the Rome Statute, accuses Israel of war crimes, genocide and incitement to genocide, in the context of the bombardment of the Gaza Strip. This submission follows mounting allegations of Israeli war crimes by international human rights groups, including the use of toxic white phosphorous on civilians and attacks on medical services.

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are ousting the army from military bases across the western Darfur region, leading to fears the country will be split in a similar way to neighboring Libya, which is ruled by rival governments. Even as the RSF has engaged in talks with the army in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, the group has launched attacks on the capitals of three of Darfur's five states, leading to mass displacement and large civilian casualties. Last month, it took full control over Nyala and Zalingei (the capitals of South Darfur and Central Darfur), while last week it seized the main army base in West Darfur's El Geneina. Over 1,000 people from the Masalit ethnic group were reportedly killed by RSF and allied militia fighters during the West Darfur takeover, which may amount to the worst civilian atrocity since Sudan's current war erupted on April 15. RSF leaders are now threatening to seize El Fasher in North Darfur, which has been a safe haven in recent months, and has attracted hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) indigenous rebel group in southern Mexico has announced the dissolution of its "autonomous municipalities" in the mountains and jungle of Chiapas state. A statement signed by Zapatista leader Subcomandante Moisés said the decision was taken "after a long and profound critical and self-critical analysis." The Zapatista Rebel Autonomous Municipalities (MAREZ), overseen by rotating Good Government Juntas, have been maintained since the Zapatistas' initial uprising in 1994. Moisés said that future communiques "will describe the reasons and the processes involved in taking this decision," as well as "what the new structure of Zapatista autonomy will look like." The communique did, however, mention a new pressure in the growing power of "disorganized crime cartels" in Chiapas, a reference to the narco-gangs seeking to control "the entire border strip with Guatemala." (AP, Mexico New Daily)

Burma's rebel Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has taken control of nearly the entire town of Namkham in northern Shan state, besieging the last remaining junta outpost there on Nov. 6. The town is located along the Shweli River, a main trade route on the Chinese border. Meanwhile, in Mongko—northeast of Namkham and also located on the border with China—TNLA allies the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Arakan Army have reportedly captured four junta bases, representing a serious loss of strategic territory for the regime. These rebel armies together make up a force known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance, now emerging as the junta's most formidable military challenge. (Myanmar Now, The Diplomat)

In both the United States and United Kingdom, progressive politicians have been censured for use of the slogan "Palestine will be free from the river to the sea." Much media reportage has simply accepted portrayals of the slogan as inherently anti-Semitic and a call for genocide. Nor, given the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 and the wave of anti-Semitic attacks around the world since then, should such concerns be merely dismissed. Indeed, the slogan does inherently challenge the precepts of Zionism and the moribund dogma of a two-state solution. In Episode 199 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg urges that it is incumbent upon activists to articulate a vision of a single secular state with equal rights for all in historic Palestine. While this may seem utopian, clarity on this question will make us more tactically effective in advancing the urgent immediate demand: a ceasefire in Gaza.

In a statement released Nov. 3, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights brought attention to an "alarming and urgent" situation on the occupied West Bank, with "multi-layered human rights violations of Palestinians" mounting while the world is focused on the greater crisis in Gaza. The statement notes that 132 Palestinians, including 41 children, have been killed on the West Bank since the current crisis began on Oct. 7. Two Israeli soldiers have also been killed.  Settler violence, which was already at record levels, has escalated dramatically, averaging seven attacks a day. In more than a third of these attacks, firearms were used, the statement charged. In many of these incidents, "settlers were accompanied by members of the Israeli forces, or the settlers were wearing uniforms and carrying army rifles," raising concerns that "armed settlers have been acting with the acquiescence and collaboration of Israeli forces and authorities."