Latest articles
by Binoy Kampmark / May 6th, 2026
They have become adept flouters of international law. When doing so, they justify such violations with streaky, anaemic interpretations of self-defence and security. The Global Sumud Flotilla’s encore effort to break the Gaza blockade, which has been in place with varying forms of severity since 2007, did have one meritorious claim. After vanishing under a news cycle saturated with the Iran War, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and a global energy crisis, the unpardonably miserable plight of Gazans did make a return to the media stage.
The state of catastrophic misery for those on the Gaza Strip is …
by Lee Camp / May 6th, 2026
Image courtesy the Freedom Flotilla Coalition
Did you hear the news? No, probably not. It’s not news anymore. The ongoing genocide in Gaza doesn’t count as newsworthy for Western media. Apparently there are a lot more interesting, important, and titillating stories than a US-funded and armed genocide.
A quick Google search shows zero mainstream western outlets covering Gaza recently other than articles about the Gaza aid flotilla that was just terrorized and intercepted by Israel 1,000km from Israel. Meaning, the actual genocide is no longer a story.
Yet, …
by Black Alliance for Peace / May 5th, 2026
The U.S. Presidential Executive Order, “Imposing Sanctions on Those Responsible for Repression in Cuba and for Threats to United States National Security and Foreign Policy,” signed on May 1, 2026, International Workers’ Day, marks both an escalation of existing policy and a qualitative shift toward total economic warfare, deploying starvation as an instrument of statecraft. The timing of this escalation is not incidental. Issued amid renewed U.S. rhetoric around exerting control over Cuba, the EO signals an effort to consolidate that control in a moment of deepening crisis for U.S. imperialism.
By broadening sanctions to target any entity or …
by Binoy Kampmark / May 5th, 2026
Scribblers, scribes, authors, and publishers – all of these are facing ever-worsening conditions in pursuing their work in battling the goons of secrecy and impunity. The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index has rotten news on that score. For the first time since the index came into being, RSF states that “over half of the world’s countries now fall into the ‘difficult’ or ‘very serious’ categories for press freedom. In 25 years, the average score of all 180 countries and territories surveyed in the Index has never been so low.”
In reaching its scores on press freedom, RSF uses …
by Barbara G. Ellis / May 5th, 2026
Above a personal email from a friend (name changed) in early April was a small summation of her short message to me from something called “AI Overview”:
Barbara is getting a Jitterbug phone like Jan’s.
Beth asked Barbara about her writing group…”
Below it in smaller type was the AI author’s message:” ‘By Gemini; there may be mistakes. Learn more”
There was no mistake. And I needed no translations of Beth’s email. Google’s Gemini program was invading my privacy. And because millions of others and I have written adversely about President Trump in our Gmails, we are now being watched. Could it …
by B.R. Gowani / May 4th, 2026
The Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan) was unified under British colonial rule. In 1947, India was divided into India and Pakistan. In 1971, Pakistan was divided into Pakistan and Bangladesh. Since coming to power in 2014, Hindu nationalist Modi’s hatred of minorities, particularly Muslims, has created internal division and turned Muslims into second-class citizens.
On the other side, Pakistan today is facing another crisis which, if not handled humanely and fairly, could result in yet another division.
The Indian subcontinent is not a homogeneous entity; it is an amalgam of various ethnicities, one could say …
by Caitlin Johnstone / May 4th, 2026
I recently watched a Sky News segment on the need to ban pro-Palestine marches, which nicely illustrates the way the mass media have been working to manipulate the public into believing these demonstrations are causing antisemitic attacks.
Reporting on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent assertion that the “repeat nature” and “cumulative effect” of pro-Palestine marches may necessitate a ban on some protests following the Golders Green stabbing, reporter Mollie Malone repeatedly told the audience of Sky News that the marches are happening in the “context” of antisemitic incidents and “against the backdrop” of attacks on Jewish people.
There is no evidence …
by Binoy Kampmark / May 4th, 2026
The jury at the Venice Biennale Art Exhibition has outdone itself. Few juries at any art or literary festival can be trusted at the best of times, their judgment likely to be swayed by factions, self-interest, and the ethically sapping succor of the gravy train (the global art scene is an enormous racket after all), but to see such figures take a moral stand is a peculiar thing indeed.
The stand in question, which took the form of a mass resignation, was initiated in response to the decision to permit Russian participation for the first time since the February 2022 invasion …
by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East / May 2nd, 2026
Two days ago, Israeli forces violently raided the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) in international waters, and kidnapped unarmed activists at gunpoint, including at least two Canadians.
The …
by Paul Haeder / May 2nd, 2026
Note: Just out in the Lincoln County Leader, AKA Newport News Times. Read the article with enhanced images below.
Second note: I have been cancelled here, from teaching at the college (community) and from substituting at the K12 District.
My crimes? I was teaching years ago, subbing for high schoolers (I wrote about that here at DV). The sick English teacher was on the phone, and he was fine with me teaching Animal Farm and Of Mice and Men, since that IS my specialty — college-level writing and literature classes.
Subs with some flair, me, get asked, “What did you do …
by Black Agenda Report / May 2nd, 2026
On this International Workers’ Day 2026, it is clear that the working people of the US must fight and organize more substantially to defeat U.S. wars domestically and globally. From Palestine to Haiti, from Iran to Cuba, from Venezuela to Sudan, from Lebanon to the Philippines, U.S. imperialism deploys military force, economic warfare, and political repression to discipline working peoples who resist its control. Domestically, this same system targets migrants, criminalizes dissent, murders freedom fighters, and intensifies the conditions of exploitation and disposability imposed on the working class.
For nine years, the Black Alliance for Peace has worked to advance this …
by Tricontinental Asia / May 2nd, 2026
Diego Rivera (Mexico), Pesadilla de guerra, sueño de paz (Nightmare of war, dream of peace), 1952.
On 30 April 1975, a tank crashed through the gates of the Independence Palace in Saigon, Vietnam, ending three decades of war. Vietnam had defeated the most powerful military force the world had ever known – at the cost of over three million Vietnamese lives and 7.5 million tonnes of US bombs dropped across Indochina. But this was not only Vietnam’s story. It was the culmination of a long tradition – stretching back nearly …
Origins of May Day
by Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) / May 1st, 2026
May Day, the international day of working class unity and struggle, finds its origins in the historic strike of U.S. workers for the eight-hour workday.
The strike started on May 1, 1886. In Chicago, workers’ defence organizations organized a general strike and tens of thousands of workers walked off the job. Some 80,000 people marched down Michigan Avenue with the cry, “Eight-hour day with no cut in pay.” Police and private security forces from Pinkerton were on hand to suppress the workers, but there was no incident that day. Over the next …
The Age of Manufactured Fear
by Sammy Attoh / May 1st, 2026
I. Fear as a Tool of Power
Throughout history, fear has been one of the most effective instruments of control. Empires, governments, and institutions have long understood that a frightened population is easier to manage, easier to divide, and easier to manipulate. Fear narrows perception. It reduces moral imagination. It conditions people to accept policies and practices they would otherwise reject.
In the modern era, fear is no longer an accidental byproduct of crisis; it is a manufactured resource. It is produced, circulated, and weaponized. It is embedded in political rhetoric, amplified through media, and reinforced by systems that benefit from public …
by Lee Camp / May 1st, 2026
A new study from Nafeez Ahmed and the Age of Transformation looking at over 100 years of historical patterns finds that Trump’s brand of fascism is highly likely to flame out within the next few years. Yes, that’s really exciting to hear. But no, it doesn’t mean we’re home free.
First — a definition of fascism. Seems like everybody has a different one, but I’ll go with Encyclopedia Britannica’s definition of neo-fascists:
“The neofascists advocate militant nationalism and authoritarian values, oppose the liberal …
In the context of the First Conference Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels
by Black Alliance for Peace / May 1st, 2026
At the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, we – Global Afro-Descendants (GAD) – are confronting interconnected systems of oppression and fighting for REAL solutions to the climate and ecological crises
SANTA MARTA, COLOMBIA — For the first time in history, Afro-descendant peoples have been formally recognized and included as an official delegation within a global climate process.
Participating alongside other sectors of civil society as an invited constituency group by the host governments, the GAD engaged in a series of collaborative dialogues to identify key barriers, articulate solutions, and advance pathways toward a just transition away from fossil fuels. …
Show Me the Money
by Binoy Kampmark / May 1st, 2026
Louts pressing false claims, faux principled types seeking to score successes against clearly useless targets. Jules Hurst, in trying to discharge the duties of the comptroller, had some news for members of the House Armed Services Committee: the Iran War had drawn $25 billion from the coffers of Freedom Land which, for the budget wags, amount to the entire budget of NASA for a year. It was further explained that most of that coin went on munitions. The top Democrat on the Committee, Rep. Adam Smith, exuded …
by Peter Blunt / April 30th, 2026
A few days ago, I received an email ‘staff message’ from the Pro Vice Chancellor of Research at UNSW entitled, ‘Restrictions on research collaboration with Iran, Russia, Belarus and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’.
It was a little unnerving as – coincidentally (?) – a week or so before, unaware of the prohibition, I had posted online in this journal my first and only piece co-authored with a respected and widely published Iranian analyst living in Tehran. (For fear of breaching some subclause of the relevant legislation, I do not …
by John Perry / April 30th, 2026
In the run-up to the 2024 election, Donald Trump promised “We will close the border. We will stop the invasion of illegals into our country.” A year later, it was a promise he claimed to have kept. But exactly who are the “illegals”? Loose definitions and manipulated statistics tell a very misleading story about migrants from Latin America.
Earlier this year, a chart appeared on social media sites like X claiming that during President Biden’s four years in office, 8% of Nicaragua’s population entered the US illegally. The chart displayed comparable percentages for five …
Los Angeles vs Tehran: When a US blockade made Karachi a traffic snarl and Iran looked to Pakistan's land routes
by Syed Salman Mehdi / April 30th, 2026
Pakistan’s largest port, Karachi, might as well be a warehouse as a place of action, with some 3,000 containers waiting. They await someone to go pick them up. They were meant for Iran. The vessels that should have arrived to take them across the Arabian Sea were halted when, in late February 2026, the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world’s most important shipping lanes — was turned into a war zone.
But after two months of ship strangling, Iran is for once having to plead with its neighbour Pakistan to …
by Roger D. Harris / April 30th, 2026
Although progressives are rightly concerned about US-coerced compromises and concessions, it is equally important to understand the resilience and continuing successes of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution. Focusing only on the half-empty aspect of the proverbial glass obscures the strength of the resistance and conceals the vulnerabilities of the imperial juggernaut.
On a delegation to Venezuela, the constant refrain from both high-ranking government officials and grassroots Chavistas – supporters of the movement led by former President Hugo Chávez – was that they were urgently “buying time.”
A quarter-century of US hybrid …
by Lubna Z. Qureshi / April 30th, 2026
[Source: hippostcard.com]
The late Mario Savio was a leading light of the Free Speech Movement (FSM) at the University of California, Berkeley. His 1964 speech is now legend:
There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part! You can’t …
A recently leaked "ecumenical framework concept" shows that even Germany's churches are getting ready for war.
by Pascal Lottaz / April 30th, 2026
In the following I’m linking to the so called “ecumenical framework concept” that Dr. Ulrike Guérot shared with me in a recent talk (German version here, English version coming soon). It’s a scary read, because it shows how far the war-psychosis has already gone in Germany. Summary by AI, full paper (in German) here.
Summary
Dated September 2025, the “ecumenical framework concept” is considerably more than a document of pastoral planning. It …
by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead / April 30th, 2026
Everything this nation once stood for is being turned on its head.
We are being asked—no, told—to believe that the greatest threat to America today is not government overreach, endless war, corruption, surveillance, or the steady erosion of constitutional rights.
No, the real threat, it seems, is speech.
Dangerous speech. Hateful speech. Critical speech. Speech that dares to challenge power.
In the wake of the reported assassination attempt on President Trump, the Trump administration has wasted no time advancing a dangerous narrative: that criticism of the president—especially criticism labeling him authoritarian or fascist—is not just …
-- John Lennon
by Serena Wylde / April 29th, 2026
Back in 2010, author and Guardian columnist Sir Simon Jenkins wrote an article arguing for the defence budget to be completely scrapped: “I don’t mean nibble at it or slice it” he wrote, “I mean cut it, all £45bn of it.”
It was in response to the then Chancellor, …
by Phil Rockstroh / April 29th, 2026
Ben-Gvir agitating for ethnic cleansing in the West Bank
In my youth, I was induced, and there was not a countervailing assertion proffered, that Zionism was both a citadel of mind and of landscape, that as a Jew Israel was my true place of sanctuary in a world that might tolerate me on sight one moment and shove me into a deathcamp-bound cattle …
by Jill Clark-Gollub / April 29th, 2026
Above photo: Activists tell Congress to stop applying unilateral coercive measures and lift the blockade on Cuba
Washington, DC — This spring constituents and grassroots organizations have been raising awareness in Congress and in public forums of the harms caused by Unilateral Coercive Measures (UCMs or “sanctions”). Sanctions have become the “go-to” foreign policy tool of the United States government, now impacting a quarter of the global economy and one-third of the world’s population. These measures cause an average of 564,000 deaths around the world annually—comparable to the toll from …
Hold Fast to Dreams: The Poetry of Langston Hughes
by Paul Haeder / April 29th, 2026
Starmer’s Silly Talking Points
by Binoy Kampmark / April 29th, 2026
He can hardly be blamed for being given the brief by his Prime Minister. King Charles III is in the United States on a repair job, playing diplomatic handyman and mender for Sir Keir Starmer and the US-UK alliance so long regarded as special. On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of American independence, it was easy to forget that the British, despite losing its American colonies, gained some vengeance through the exploits of Major General Robert Ross, who, on August 14, 1814, burned down the White House, the …
by Caitlin Johnstone / April 28th, 2026
In the last few days, I’ve seen three separate instances of generative AI being used to promote propaganda for US-Israeli war agendas, which are worth paying attention to.
Firstly, an Israel-based company called Generative AI for Good has been creating deepfakes of supposedly real women who say they were sexually assaulted by government forces in Iran.
The Canary reports:
“An Israel-based AI firm, Generative AI for Good, claims to be using deepfake technologies for positive ends. ‘Positive’ appears to mean creating deepfake videos to help the illegal US-Israel war on Iran.
…
“Generative AI for Good claims that it uses AI to ‘help survivors testify safely — in their …