Pegasus and the Threat of Cyberweapons in the Age of Smartphones
Pegasus can compromise a phone without the user having to click on a single link.
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Music Review: Afro Yaqui Music Collective’s ‘Maroon Futures’
“Maroon Futures” follows in the tradition of so many great and important musicians, tapping into the spirit of jazz artists, including John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, McCoy Tyner, Duke Ellington, and Alice Coltrane, among others, who in the 1960s and 1970s were looking to “Third World” cultures for musical and spiritual inspiration.
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What’s Next for the Haitian Liberation Movement After the Moïse Assassination?
Social movements in Haiti sought for months to remove assassinated President Jovenel Moïse. It was broadly considered the task of the people.
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If You Grew Up With the U.S. Blockade as a Cuban, You Might Understand the Recent Protests Differently
During the early morning of July 17, tens of thousands of Cubans gathered along the Malecón boulevard in Havana to stand with the Cuban Revolution.
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Rwanda’s Economic Success Keeps Western Scrutiny About Human Rights Abuses at Bay
Rwanda’s economic and social accomplishments—while impressive—mask the underbelly of one of the world’s cruelest states. But Western powers remain silent on human-rights abuses as they reap profits.
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First Indigenous Woman to Preside Over Chilean Constitutional Assembly Rocks Political Establishment
In a stunning election that was centuries in the making, a 58-year-old Mapuche academic named Elisa Loncón took the helm of a strategic political body in Chile.
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The United States Tries to Take Advantage of the Price Cubans Are Paying for the Blockade and the Pandemic
If the U.S.-imposed blockade ended, many of the great challenges facing Cuba would lift.
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Destabilizing Haiti: Why It Keeps Happening
Having a military presence on the island, or at least leverage with whatever regime emerges, can help to sustain political pressure on other countries nearby, while providing a base to step in as part of any regional military operation deemed necessary in the future.
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‘Neither Asian Nor Clean’: Civil Society Demands Asian Development Bank Take Action to Address Climate Change and Debt
Many civil society organizations from across central, southern and southeast Asia that attended a recent meeting on clean energy said the Asian Development Bank has been attempting to push its draft energy policy without input from groups on the ground.
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How One Cuban Is Leading the Charge to Transform U.S.-Cuba Policy
Carlos Lazo and a small band of Cubans are on a 1,300-mile pilgrimage from Miami to Washington, D.C., to end the U.S. blockade of Cuba.
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Biden Acknowledges ‘Over the Horizon’ Air Attacks Planned Against Taliban
On July 2, fleeing questions from reporters about U.S. plans in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden sought refuge behind the July 4 Independence Day holiday. Yet, he obliquely acknowledged that the United States will use some level of “over the horizon” air attacks to prevent the Taliban from taking power, attacks that will include drones and manned aircraft, possibly even B-52s.
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CEO Found Guilty in Berta Cáceres Case: ‘No Justice Until the Mastermind Is Brought to Justice’
On July 5, a Honduran jury found David Castillo, former chief executive officer of Desarrollos Energéticos Sociedad Anónima (DESA), guilty of being a collaborator in the murder. Castillo initially was charged as the mastermind behind the murder.
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‘Against Left-Wing White Nationalism’: Gerald Horne’s Response to ‘The White Republic and the Struggle for Racial Justice’
With the United States' Independence Day (July 4) having passed, Toward Freedom is re-printing this analysis by Gerald Horne, which originally appeared in OrganizingUpgrade.com.
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U.S. and U.K. Green New Deals Skirt Around Systemic Transformation
Record-breaking heat waves and economic hits as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted governments in the United States and the United Kingdom to consider enacting a Green New Deal (GND). But will they curb emissions while upholding the principles of social justice and equity?
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China Pulls Itself Out of Poverty 100 Years Into Its Revolution
With a handful of people founding the Chinese Communist Party 100 years ago, the Chinese people gained a leadership body that could deliver them from a struggle that dates back to 1839. Now, the CPC will play a decisive role in determining the fate not only of China but of the world.
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Armenia, Hostage of Russia and Turkey Amid Power Play
Following defeat in the 44-day war against Azerbaijan last autumn, Armenia remains stuck in the Russian geopolitical orbit, and has been forced to make painful concessions to its arch enemy, Azerbaijan.
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Civil War in Afghanistan Will Threaten Afghanistan, China and Pakistan
Dialogue between Afghanistan, China and Pakistan may be crucial to stopping terrorism in central and southern Asia.
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How Biden Helped Hardliner Raisi Win the Iran Election
Could Raisi’s victory have been averted if President Biden had rejoined the Iran deal right after coming into the White House and enabled Rouhani and the moderates in Iran to take credit for the removal of U.S. sanctions before the election? Now we will never know.
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On the Politics of Victory and Defeat: How Gaza Dethroned the King of Israel
Unlike other right-wing politicians around the world, Netanyahu did not simply exploit or ride the wave of an existing populist movement. Instead, he was the main architect of the current version of Israel’s right-wing politics.
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The Case of Alex Saab: U.S. Abduction of Venezuelan Diplomat a Global Challenge
The kidnapping of Alex Saab is a dramatic and far-reaching effort to enforce the illegal U.S.-decreed policy of economic sanctions. The United States is attempting to impose its will on a country by deliberately attacking the civilian population. Illegal sanctions are a conscious policy of imposing economic havoc to “make the economy scream.”
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Meet the Communists Who Now Govern Chile
A communist's victory and the gains made by the left alliance to shape the new Chilean constitution suggest Allende’s legacy—not Pinochet's—will shape the future.
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Q&A with Gerald Horne on AFRICOM, Terrorism and Zionism
Imperial powers are intensifying their use of military “proxies” within Africa against other parts of Africa, not to defend the interests of Africa but to further the interests of capitalist-imperialism.
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‘Keystone XL Is Dead!’: After 10-Year Battle, a Climate Movement Victory
After more than a decade of grassroots organizing, agitation and tireless opposition by the international climate movement, the final nail was slammed into the Keystone XL's coffin Wednesday afternoon when the company behind the transnational tar sands pipeline officially pulled the plug on its plans.
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Pedro Castillo’s Humble Roots Inspire Perú’s Masses, Could Upend U.S.-Perú Relations
The June 6 election became one of the most contentious in Peruvian history, with two candidates who personify polar opposite interests and visions for Perú’s future.
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AFRICOM Military’s Exercise: The Art of Creating New Pretexts for Propagating U.S. Interests
Phoenix Express 2021, the AFRICOM-sponsored military exercise involving 13 countries in the Mediterranean Sea region, concluded in May. While its stated aim was to combat “irregular migration” and trafficking, the U.S. record in the region indicates more nefarious interests.
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U.S. Trying to Extradite Venezuelan Diplomat for ‘Crime’ of Importing Food: The Case of Alex Saab vs. the Empire
A solidarity activist explains the case of Venezuelan ambassador Alex Saab and the dangerous legal precedents being set.
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Media Coverage of Belarusian Airplane Arrest Fits Pattern of New Cold War
The arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich after his flight was diverted May 23 to the Belarusian capital of Minsk has generated more negative publicity for Belarus’ government and has raised questions about the extent of the new Cold War.
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Cyber Censorship Hits Colombia, India and Palestine
Social media companies claim their algorithms inadvertently silence voices, but experts say governments are involved.
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How Neoliberal Austerity Stripped India’s Healthcare Infrastructure
India "liberalizing" its economy in the early 1990s devastated the healthcare infrastructure needed to get people back on their feet.
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Book Review: “The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved a Country from Corporate Greed”
This book is based on a struggle in a small section of a small country—El Salvador—beginning in 2002, when a group of “white men in suits” entered the province of Cabañas and tried to convince poor farmers that gold mining would be good for them.
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After Decades of Oppression, Colombian Women Lead Front Lines of National Strike
The strike, which marks its 1-month anniversary today, continues unabated. It started as a response to a tax reform project that would have devastated middle- and low-income households. Yet, this is not the core of social discontent among Colombians.
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Crushing Dissent During India’s Lockdown
This is a glimpse into the conditions the Indian state machinery forces people to endure as it goes about filling overcrowded prisons, in violation of basic civil and legal rights, as the pandemic ridden situation further deteriorates. The situation has worsened because of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s use of a 54-year-old draconian law.
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African Liberation Day & Q&A with Kwame Nkrumah’s Son, Gamal
African Liberation Day (ALD), celebrated on May 25, has its origins in the long struggle of African people to liberate themselves from European domination and white supremacy.
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Q&A: Filmmaker Ramiro Sebastián Fúnez on “Nicaragua Against Empire” & Getting the Story Right
Toward Freedom Editor Julie Varughese recently spoke with Ramiro Sebastián Fúnez, who produced a film, “Nicaragua Against Empire,” which premiered May 15 on YouTube. The film casts a lens on the landscape, culture and geopolitics that led to the ongoing Sandinista Revolution.
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Book Review: ‘Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture’
"Black Spartacus" is a rigorous history of Louverture’s undying spirit and prodigious work for the Haitian people's emancipation.
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Unity at Last: The Palestinian People Have Risen
The Palestinian people have decided to move past all the political divisions and the factional squabbles. Instead, they are coining new terminologies, centered on resistance, liberation and international solidarity.
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Chad Diaspora Stomps on French Flag at Embassy Protest
Chadians protested May 14 at the Embassy of France in Washington, D.C., in response to a French-backed coup to install the son of Idriss Déby, which they assert is in violation of the country's constitution.
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From Palestine to Colombia: The End of the White World Colonial-Capitalist Project?
The colonial-capitalist West is prepared to sacrifice everything and everyone in order to maintain its global dominance, even if it means destroying the planet and everyone on it.
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Why One State in India Is Showing Promising Signs of Democracy as the World Goes More Authoritarian
In Kerala, the re-elected Left government has prioritized making life better for all, even during crises—contrasting sharply with Narendra Modi’s right-wing central government’s devastating mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Art Against Drones
In late May, a Predator drone replica, appearing suddenly above the High Line promenade at 30th Street, might seem to scrutinize people below. The “gaze” of the sleek, white sculpture by Sam Durant, called “Untitled, (drone),” in the shape of the U.S. military’s Predator killer drone, will sweep unpredictably over the people below, rotating atop its 25-foot-high steel pole, its direction guided by the wind.
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Muna Is Palestine, Yakub Is Israel: The Untold Story of Sheikh Jarrah
There are two separate Sheikh Jarrah stories —one read and watched in the news and another that receives little media coverage or due analysis.
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The Missing Link to the War in Afghanistan
The TAPI pipeline (named for the countries it would traverse) was envisioned long before 9/11 and is still awaiting completion. Key to its success is securing its passage through lands occupied by warlords. The fiercest warlords of all—once deemed most capable of protecting the pipeline—are the Taliban.
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This Is Not a Crisis—This Is a Rebellion: A Report from the Front Lines of Haiti
CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and the full gamut of mainstream media outlets have paid scant attention to this social insurrection. The headlines—if they mention Haiti at all—have focused on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Biden regime’s deportation of Haitians to the “civil unrest” of Haiti. The anti-neoliberal rebellion goes unmentioned.
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Racism, Exclusion and State Violence: The Brutal Repression of Peaceful Protest in Colombia
Rather than heeding the demands of the citizens against the tax reform and social injustice, Colombia has responded with militarization, turning peaceful demonstrations into scenes of war. Helicopters circle above protest points and communities, while tanks thunder through narrow city streets.
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Oil, Cocoa, AFRICOM and a Dictator: Requiem for a Dream of Democracy
It should have been a democratic success story. The presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa in October 2020 was expected to put an end to three decades of political unrest with the first peaceful transfer of power. Instead, though the constitution says the president can only stay in power for two terms, Alassane Ouattara ran for and won a third presidential term amid ethnic violence, extreme police brutality and the jailing of his opponent, thus barging his way to a presidency for life.
Activism
Art and Activism: Danai Gurira’s Play, “Eclipsed,” Is More Relevant Than Ever
Activism and Art are a potent combination for addressing problems that are both enduring and unendurable. The play, Eclipsed, transports the audience into the intimate dwelling of women struggling to survive while living as sexual slaves in a rebel forces encampment at the end of the Liberian civil war in 2003. The story follows a 15-year-old African girl as she escapes from the encampment to become a child soldier in the rebel forces.
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Uganda’s President Museveni’s Reign of Terror is Aided By US War on Terror in East Africa
Three months after Yoweri Museveni was re-elected president of Uganda for a sixth term, citizens of this strategic East African state are trying to come to terms with the dismal likelihood that he will never be unseated in free and fair elections. Ever since 1986, when he came to power in the country’s first plural elections, this African strongman has enjoyed the continued and tacit support of successive US administrations. The fact that Uganda discovered oil in 2006 has also enhanced his value as a close ally to the West in a turbulent neighborhood. Today, Uganda is described as having the fourth largest onshore oil reserves in sub-Sahara Africa.
Activism
The World is My Country: A Stunning New Film about World Citizen Garry Davis
He was best known as “World Citizen # 1.”.He was a former WWII bomber pilot who was so pained about having bombed a civilian city that, in 1948, he gave up his US national citizenship and declared himself a citizen of the world. Many more acts of defiance would follow, landing him in prison 34 times. Now, the late Garry Davis (1921-2013), whose obituary appeared on the front page of the New York Times, is the subject of a newly released documentary by Arthur Kanegis and Melanie N. Bennett called The World is My Country. It is now airing on public television stations across the country -- including Vermont broadcasts on May 2.
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A spoiled ballot in Ecuador’s elections
Ecuador’s April 11 election that led to a 5-point victory by conservative banker Guillermo Lasso over progressive candidate Andrés Arauz was not what it appeared to be. On the surface, it was a surprisingly clean and professional election. But a fraud-free process for casting and counting ballots does not mean that the election was free and fair. Behind the scenes was a monumentally unequal playing field and dirty campaign designed to quash an Arauz win.
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Does Russia really plan to invade Ukraine?
The West is accusing Russia of preparing to invade Ukraine. Both Moscow and Kiev are flexing muscles and deploying troops waiting for a “major war.” But is the Kremlin really interested in another land grab, or is Russia’s harsh rhetoric just a message to the Western leaders, primarily to the US President Joe Biden?
Activism
Hunting in Yemen, Hunger Striking in Washington DC
We all have a responsibility to listen for the screams of children gunned down as they flee in the darkness from the rubble of their homes. We all have a responsibility to listen for the gasps of little children breathing their last because starvation causes them to die from asphyxiation. “It’s not normal for people to live like this,” says Iman Saleh, now on her 17th day of a hunger strike demanding an end to war in Yemen.
