Feature Archives

In the early hours of Monday, June 22, 2009, settlers from the Bat ‘Ain settlement set fire and cut down more than 125 grapevines and fruit trees. Israeli soldiers said they saw a fire in the Palestinian agricultural fields some time during the night and went to put it out, though they did nothing to collect the evidence; kerosene canisters and matches were still there the next morning when activists from the Palestine Solidarity Project accompanied the farmer’s family to survey the damage.

On June 21st, the Israeli State Prosecutor ordered police to start an investigation of Indymedia Israel. At the heart of the investigation is an article posted to the website with a picture of a soldier who, according to witnesses, murdered protest organizer Abu Rahma on April 17th. The posting with the heading “murderer“ asks for the name and any other relevant information of that soldier so that he can face murder charges.

Davey D, producer of KPFA's Hard Knock Radio, writes: "It’s interesting to hear a number of progressives who immediately jumped out the box telling people that they were being duped by supporting the protests in Tehran. Many arrogantly pointed out that we were somehow carrying the mainstream party line and what we were seeing in the streets was a CIA backed operation. In fact one person hit me up and told me I should be ashamed of myself and that I was somehow pushing the mainstream party line."

On, Saturday, June 6, hundreds came to the Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, to protest 42 years of an ongoing occupation of the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and Gaza since the Six Days War in 1967. Organized by the Communist Party of Israel (Hadash), protesters held signs calling to end the clocked and bombardment of Gaza and for a just peace.

On June 11th in Tel Aviv, a group of queer Israeli activists protested the cynical use of gay rights by a conservative American group called StandWithUs (SWU). The activists disrupted an event called I-Pride, organized by SWU, exploiting queer issues to support Israel’s existence as an apartheid state and its occupation over Palestinians.

On June 5th, Peruvian national police attacked a roadblock near the city of Bagua in northwestern Peru, killing at least sixty people. Several thousand indigenous protesters had been blocking the main road to protest measures the government has taken to sell their ancestral land to energy companies. On June 16th, over 30 people converged outside the Peruvian Consulate in San Francisco to amplify their concerns with the Peruvian and US Government's complacency in protecting indigenous rights.

On June 15th, hundreds of thousands protested in the streets of Tehran in the largest demonstration in Iran's 30-year history, and opposition candidate Mousavi made his first public appearance since the election. Clashes broke out between police and groups protesting the election results early Saturday morning. Police stormed dorms at the University of Tehran on Sunday, with several deaths and many arrests reported. Demonstrators called for the election to be canceled after it was announced that President Ahmadinejad won over 62 percent of the vote.