Abortion campaigners in Chile have been heartened by the recent legalization of abortion in neighboring Argentina and are currently presenting a bill for the decriminalization of abortion. But with a pro-life government and Senate inherited from the Pinochet regime (1973-90) any amendments to the existing law will be hard won.
In recent weeks, the news filling American living rooms is that Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, bravely stood up to President Trump’s claim of voter fraud in the November 2020 elections and continues to do so now that Georgians are heading to the polls on Tuesday to decide a crucial runoff election that will decide whether Democrats regain control of the Senate. Once again, investigative journalist Greg Palast, who has reported for the BBC, Rolling Stone and the Guardian, often on voter suppression, exposes what’s really been going on in Georgia since the Republicans stole the election from gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in 2018.
When President-Elect Joe Biden announced on December 17th that he had nominated a Native American congresswoman from New Mexico to head up the Department of Interior, indigenous communities across the nation reacted with astonishment and tears of joy. The Washington Post responded cautiously: “American Indians have high hopes that Deb Haaland, Biden’s pick for interior secretary, can reset the troubled relationship between the federal government and Indigenous peoples.” But then the paper added a caveat, “Can she deliver?” .
The victory of Joe Biden occasions relief only insofar as we’ve prevented the immediate consolidation of twenty-first century fascism. But under Biden, a man who, along with President Obama, oversaw mass deportations of a scale surpassed only by Trump, the battle for ending border violence, and the system of global apartheid it upholds, will be a long one. Trump may have been one of the ugliest examples of All-American Nativism. But in a world buckling under the weight of climate change, inequality and militarism, fighting back against it means recognizing the problem goes far beyond just him.
Following years of organizing and campaigning, the Regional Director of the national Ministry for the Environment & Water confirmed the Inidgenous community’s request: land that they own collectively is now formally recognized as a national Protected Hydrological Area (APH). This not only offers new levels of legal recourse, it also creates a model for other communities to follow — in the much-needed protection of unique ecosystems.
The sanctions imposed on Venezuela are a form of economic warfare disproportionately impacting women. These measures are meant to create hardship and unrest. Peace and progress come only through the democratic process.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019