background preloader

Social Justice

Facebook Twitter

Occupy Wall Street activist found guilty of assaulting police officer. An Occupy Wall Street activist is facing up to seven years in prison after being convicted by a jury in Manhattan of assaulting a New York police officer as he led her out of a protest.

Occupy Wall Street activist found guilty of assaulting police officer

Cecily McMillan's guilty verdict reveals our mass acceptance of police violence. The verdict in the biggest Occupy related criminal case in New York City, that of Cecily McMillan, came down Monday afternoon.

Cecily McMillan's guilty verdict reveals our mass acceptance of police violence

As disturbing as it is that she was found guilty of felony assault against Officer Grantley Bovell, the circumstances of her trial reflect an even more disturbing reality – that of normalized police violence, disproportionately punitive sentences (McMillan faces seven years in prison), and a criminal penal system based on anything but justice. While this is nothing new for the over-policed communities of New York City, what happened to McMillan reveals just how powerful and unrestrained a massive police force can be in fighting back against the very people with whom it is charged to protect. McMillan was one of roughly 70 protesters arrested on March 17, 2012. The Central African Republic Conflict Is Africa's Bloodiest Fight.

Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), has never been known for the reliability of its public utilities.

The Central African Republic Conflict Is Africa's Bloodiest Fight

Most trash is picked through by scavengers, and the remaining mango pits, scraps of plastic, and rusty bottlecaps pile up on dirt roads or get blown into fetid open sewers. But since December, along a desolate stretch of the Avenue de France, the Red Cross has operated an on-demand, white-gloved sanitation service that, within an hour of being called, will show up to collect human bodies, whether chopped up or left intact.

The Avenue de France marks a divide between two neighborhoods, and the human remains belong to those who have, for one reason or another, strayed too far in the wrong direction. The Real Winner of the Afghan War Is This Shady Military Contractor. Big Pharma’s focus on blockbuster cancer drugs squeezes out cheaper treatments.

The Real Winner of the Afghan War Is This Shady Military Contractor

The result, one researcher says: ‘If we’re winning the war on cancer, we’re not winning that fast.’ Michael Retsky awoke from surgery to bad news. The Return of the Soldier of Fortune. In 2000, a band of semi-trained young men in a rubber dinghy blew a hole in the U.S.S.

The Return of the Soldier of Fortune

Cole, a multi-billion dollar ship of war, shocking the world, killing over a dozen sailors, and making global headlines. Measured in terms of the cost of the attack versus the damage inflicted, the return on investment proved to be astronomical. A terrorism budget of less than $100,000 did millions of dollars in damage and purchased the equivalent of a massive international advertising campaign that bolstered the notoriety of Al Qaeda, the group responsible, to historic heights. John Robb, an entrepreneur and former air force captain expounded on this military and economic discrepancy in his 2007 book Brave New War: networked combatants whose inexpensive attacks cause outsized damage and disruption to a vulnerable, rich society dependent on extensive trade networks and worldwide political arrangements.

Robb writes: The American Police State - The Chronicle Review. Guy Fawkes Signature After Torture. National Archives Today is Guy Fawkes Day, a day where the U.K. celebrates the foiling of a plot to kill King James I in 1605.

Guy Fawkes Signature After Torture

Snowden says calls for reform prove intel leaks were justified. NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say. Slaves of the Internet, Unite! 7 ridiculous restrictions on women’s rights around the world. The World Economic Forum's 2013 gender gap index.

7 ridiculous restrictions on women’s rights around the world

Countries in red and orange have the largest disparities between men and women. (WEF) With Saudi Arabian women behind the wheel since Saturday to protest their country's refusal to grant driver's licenses to women, they’re challenging not only long-standing restriction, but also a the larger system of Saudi Arabian gender-based laws, some of the harshest in the world. According to one measurement, though, there are actually several countries that rank lower on women;s rights than Saudi Arabia. The World Economic Forum, which publishes the preeminent ranking on gender gap issues, ranked Saudi Arabia 10th from the bottom in its 2013 report -- ahead of Mali, Morocco, Iran, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Syria, Chad, Pakistan and Yemen. But she adds that, especially in Saudi Arabia, “things are modernizing.” 'Wounds of Waziristan': The Story of Drones As Told By the People Who Live Under Them.

The drone war is obscure by design.

'Wounds of Waziristan': The Story of Drones As Told By the People Who Live Under Them

Operated by armchair pilots from clandestine bases across the American west, the Predators and Reapers fly over Afghanistan, Yemen, and Pakistan's Tribal Areas at invisible heights, where they are on orders from the CIA to kill "high value" targets with laser-guided "surgical" precision thousands of feet below. But because of where the Hellfire missiles land, and because the program is operated in secret, verifying their precision and their lasting effects isn't easy.

For years, US officials have downplayed the number of civilian deaths in particular, even as a chorus of independent reports have offered their own grim estimates. The latest, according to new research by the United Nations and Amnesty International: 58 civilians killed in Yemen, and up to nine hundred in Pakistan. Meet the Private Companies Helping Cops Spy on Protesters. La course contre la honte. Ceci est un extrait d'un texte cosigné avec Richard Bohringer appelé "Course contre la Honte" qui paraîtra dans "Funambule", le quatrième album de Grand Corps Malade.

La course contre la honte

Les deux artistes y brossent le portrait d'une société inégalitaire entrenue par l'immobilisme politique. Leurs souhaits, créer le débat et soulever les consciences. N'hésitez donc pas réagir dans les commentaires! Eh Tonton, est-ce que t'as regardé dehors? Sur l'avenir de nos enfants il pleut de plus en plus fort. Tonton on est du bon côté mais ce qu'on voit, on ne peut le nier, j'ai grandi au milieu de ceux que le système a oubliés. The Soaring Cost of a Simple Breath. OAKLAND, Calif. — The kitchen counter in the home of the Hayes family is scattered with the inhalers, sprays and bottles of pills that have allowed Hannah, 13, and her sister, Abby, 10, to excel at dance and gymnastics despite a horrific pollen season that has set off attacks, leaving the girls struggling to breathe.

Report Finds Police Worldwide Criminalize Dissent, Assert New Powers in Crackdown on Protests. This is a rush transcript.

Report Finds Police Worldwide Criminalize Dissent, Assert New Powers in Crackdown on Protests

Copy may not be in its final form. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We turn now to a major new report detailing the global crackdown on peaceful protests, both through excessive police force and the criminalization of dissent. The report is called "Take Back the Streets: Repression and Criminalization of Protest Around the World. " It was put out by the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations. Des étiquettes trompeuses pour des produits médicinaux. OTTAWA - Des tests génétiques menés sur des produits à base d'herbes médicinales et commercialisés au Canada ont montré que leur composition ne correspondait pas toujours à celle décrite sur l'étiquette, selon une étude publiée vendredi. La recherche publiée dans la revue britannique BMC Medicine a porté sur 44 produits dits naturels et destinés à la médecine douce, vendus par une douzaine de fabricants. Sur ces 44 produits, seuls 2 contiennent exactement les ingrédients listés sur leur étiquette sans aucun produit de substitution ou adjuvant supplémentaire.

"La contamination et la substitution des produits à base de plantes présentent des risques graves pour la santé des consommateurs", écrit Steven Newmaster, directeur de l'Institut de la biodiversité de l'Ontario. These Eye-Popping Photos Show How They Get The Minerals That Power Your Gadgets. In 2004, during a short lull in the bloodshed over control of Congo's lucrative tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold mines, photographer Marcus Bleasdale caught a lucky break. He had been speaking to a bush pilot about getting up close to some of the mines, and the pilot agreed to land near a militia-controlled operation he flew over often.

What Big Data Knows About Us. What Big Data Does, and Doesn't, Know About Me The world of Big Data is a world of pervasive data collection and aggressive analytics. Some see the future and cheer it on; others rebel. Behind it all lurks a question most of us are asking—does it really matter? I had a chance to find out recently, as I got to see what Acxiom, a large-scale commercial data aggregator, had collected about me. Boom, Bust, Flip. Two years after Occupy began, our idea is rebooting the future. On the second anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protests, Adbusters editors Kalle Lasn and Darren Fleet offer a manifesto for the movement their Vancouver magazine helped launch. Look outside your window today and admire how permanent everything is. The cars faithfully zoom in and out of traffic without end. The financial skyscrapers frame the streets, investing your dollars and cashing your paychecks with ease. Financial skyscrapers frame the streets, investing your dollars and cashing your paychecks with ease.

People pour out of apartments on their way to the office, to visit friends, to look for work. And now imagine that it all snaps. The Price of Precious. Wall Street Owns The Country. 'THE JUNGLE': Largest Homeless Camp In US. Where Julian Assange Lies in Wait—and What He’s Planning Next. Harrison has served as the public face of the connection among Assange, WikiLeaks, and Snowden. The connection was first revealed on June 19 in a WikiLeaks-hosted conference call with reporters. Study Challenges Theory Modern Nations are Less Warlike. Ce qu'a fait Miley Cyrus est répugnant, mais pas pour les raisons que l'on croit.

Bon, voilà ce qui s'est passé l'autre soir: 12 Innocent Topics That Britain’s New Hyper-Censored Internet Will Probably Block. The Suicide Detective. Cozy Corporate Directors Raise Their Pay to $1,000 an Hour. Aaron Swartz: He wanted to save the world. Why couldn’t he save himself? ‘Them and Us’: new essays by Subcomandante Marcos. Hamed a aidé. Ahmed Al-Khabaz expelled from Dawson College after finding security flaw. Aaron Swartz and the Two Faces of Power. Le Printemps québécois en images – par MADOC. Salon du Plan Nord : la police dérape, le PM perd la boussole – 20 avril « Le Printemps québécois en images – par MADOC. Radicalmontreal. Depression and Suicide Amongst Radicals and Anarchists. A Former Lobbyist Talks About What He Used To Do For A Living. And It's Horrifying. Sécurité publique ou contrôle politique? Le Monde en Action.

A Eulogy for #Occupy. - "PROGRAMMING THE NATION?" – Subliminal Blog & Examples. Revealed: how the FBI coordinated the crackdown on Occupy. Poor Students Struggle as Class Plays a Greater Role in Success. Life After Sex Work. Twitter. Shirin Neshat: Art in exile. Sri Lanka's Killing Fields - 4oD. UN must learn lessons of Sri Lanka tragedy. ‘Thanks for Ruining My Life’ - Newsweek and The Daily Beast.