Daily Report

UK: grandmas face prison in "anti-terrorism" case

From AFP, April 6:

TWO British grandmothers are facing up to a year in prison after being arrested under new anti-terrorism legislation that outlaws protests at military bases, The Independent newspaper said today.

Fear of music

LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - Anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said on Wednesday.

Nepal: violence meets four-day strike against king

Police in Nepal opened fire to break up anti-King protestors. Separately an attack by Maoist rebels last night left 22 people dead. Opposition parties said authorities detained dozens of protest leaders in Kathmandu. The four-day protest was called against the seizure of power by King Gyanendra about a year ago. The main rally will take place on Saturday. The strike left roads deserted with business and schools closing down. Police in armoured vehicles stood guard over empty streets where only protestors could be seen setting fire to tyres. (NDTV, India, April 7)

Brooklyn: Hasids boogie for right to fight

Yeah, y'all. From NY1, April 4:

An angry mob of Hasidic Jews confronted police outside a Brooklyn station house Tuesday night after officers arrested an elderly Hasidic man.

Censorship at NYC Indymedia?

Our contributor Mahmood Ketabchi writes:

The cartoons of Muhammad created much discussion and debate within the progressive movement. I wrote two articles regarding the cartoon crisis and posted both of them on the NYC Indymedia. On March 1st, I posted my second article "US Left-Nationalists Join the Islamists Against Freedom." In this article, I criticized the section of the US left which supported the Islamists' campaign against freedom of speech and the right to blasphemy. The article generated some pro and con debate among people who read the it. Two days later, to my astonishment, I noticed that the article was removed from the website.

India school textbook: donkeys better than women

A school textbook used in India's western Rajasthan state compares housewives with donkeys and says the animals are more loyal and make better companions, The Times of India reported. The book was approved by the state's governing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and has set off protests by the party's women. (Reuters, April 5)

Ethnic cleansing in Colombian Amazon

Seventy-six members of the Nukak-Makú, the last nomadic indigenous group in Colombia, including 27 children, arrived March 6 at the town of San José de Guaviare, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. They arrived naked, exhausted and frightened, fleeing their home region of Tomachipán, some nine hours away by fast launch on the Rio Inírida. It is estimated they marched two months through the forest.

Pappe refutes Chomsky on Israel Lobby

Israeli historian Dr. Ilan Pappe of Haifa University takes issue with Noam Chomsky's reaction to the Mearsheimer and Walt article on the Israel lobby:

So what do we learn from the Chomsky reaction?: We can find out what Noam has missed in his analyses in the last twenty years - as this was clear before the LRB article: Chomsky never paid too much and enough attention to the impact of AIPAC on American policy. He identified other factors and grounds, but failed to highlight something which was next door. Nor did he ever write anything of significance of the Christian Zionists. Chomsky also claims that a two state solution is still viable and opposes sanctions on Israel. Interesting positions but hardly ones the invalidate the counter positions.

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