Tag Archives: political repression
Moroccan women stand up against political detentions
For the past few months, Morocco has been shaken by a historical social movement: Hirak. Created in one of the marginalised regions of Morocco, Rif, Hirak was born after the tragic death of Mohsin Fikri, a fish vendor ground in a garbage truck while trying to retrieve his confiscated merchandise. Hirak is a social movement that demands social justice and fights against marginalisation. As an answer to the significance of Hirak, the Moroccan state chose to launch a repressive campaign. Indeed, in the Rif, in general, and, Al Hoceima, in particular, over 150 persons were arrested.
| Labour Activist has been detained and isolated for 16 months
A Statement From Hong-Kong’s Workers Organisations
On April 2017 a group of Hong-Kong labour activists issued a public call after a local labour activist was detained.
Chinese labour activist Meng Han was sentenced to a prison term of 21 months by Panyu District Court of Guangzhou City on 3 November 2016, for “gathering crowds to disrapt public order” as he helped organize workers to defend their rights. He was then sent to serve his sentence in Shaoguan Prison of Guangdong Province and is expected to be released in September 2017. Together with the detention prior the sentence, Meng has been detained for over 16 months. Since his detention on 3 December 2015, his family has attempted to visit him over a dozen times but in vain. No matter it was the No.1 Detention Centre of Guangzhou or Shaoguan Prison, the authorities denied his family’s rights to see him. In late March 2017, Meng’s parents visited Shaoguan Prison again and was told that Meng had been going through education and therefore could not be visited.
| Odessa Solidarity Day
American human right defenders and anti-war activists organized a world campaign of solidarity with Odessa. Odessa is a city located at the Northern coast of the Black see. Previously it was known mainly as a cultural and trade center. But in the last years Odessa has appeared in the news as a place of fascist crime and political repression. Three years ago, on May 2, Ukrainian neo-fascists burned alive 46 political opponents. Since that time, the Kiev government that relies on fascists’ support has sabotaged an investigation of this crime and oppressed victims’ relatives as well as progressive residents of Odessa who have been demanding justice.
| Argentina’s History and The Dirty War
The Beginning
One of the reasons it was easy for the junta, lead by Jorge Videla, to seize power was the highly unstable condition that Argentina was in, and had been in for decades. And the coup of 1976 was not the first threat to democracy; in September of 1955 all three branches of the military revolted and forced the president, Juan Perón, into exile. Eleven years later in 1966, military rule was imposed again by a new leader, Juan Carlos Ongania, only to have former president Perón return in 1973, and die in 1974. Perón was succeeded by his third wife, Isabel Martinez de Perón, who was quickly ousted by a new military dictatorship lead by Jorge Videla in 1976. (BBC timeline of Argentina)
| Turkish Artist Zehra Doğan Sentenced to Prison for Painting of Kurdish Town Attack
by Perwana Nazif
The Turkish-Kurdish painter and journalist Zehra Doğan has been sentenced to 2 years, nine months, and 22 days in prison for creating a painting which depicted the destruction caused by Turkish security forces in the Nusaybin district of Mardin province, a Kurdish region in Turkey.
