After the Charlie Hebdo's Massacre - Support Those who Fight the Religious-right; "There is no way they will make us put down our pens."

Secularism is a Women's Issue; Karima Bennoune
The tragic massacre in Paris will undoubtedly give fuel to the traditional xenophobic far-Right and the danger is an increase in racism, marginalization and exclusion of people of Muslim descent in Europe and further. We do not want to witness "anti-Muslim witch hunts". One way to commemorate this terrible event and memorialize its victims is to unequivocally defend universal human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, and they apply to all.

Political Prisoners in the Sacrifice Zone of Empire

Nozomi Hayase CounterPunch
From the margins where injustice shapes the landscape of everyday life, individuals like Jeremy Hammond and Mumia Abu-Jamal expose the lies of the government and hypocrisy of the criminal justice system. From the darkness inside, they cast a light on what those in power don’t want us to see.

Berkeley Free Speech Movement at 50 and Today

Lilith Claire; Leon Wofsy
Celebrations marked the 50th Anniversary of the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley. The FSM, along with the Civil Rights Movement, the Southern Freedom Movement, and organizations like SNCC and CORE inspired a generation. Yesterday, marking the 50th anniversary, there were celebrations and a rally - today the struggle is continuing - in Berkeley, in the U.S., and worldwide, like the Hong Kong students are showing.

Friday Nite Videos -- July 18, 2014

Portside
Spike Jonze Presents: Lil Buck and Yo-Yo Ma. If Latinos Said the Stuff White People Say. Johnny Winter: Live at the Fillmore East. Reggae Got Soul. Murder on Abortion Row.

Murder on Abortion Row

In 1994, John Salvi, a radical young Catholic abortion opponent, opened fire on two clinics in Brookline, Mass., just outside Boston, and killed two women: Shannon Lowney, a 25-year-old receptionist at Planned Parenthood, and Lee Ann Nichols, who worked as a receptionist at PreTerm, the clinic down the street.

The killings ignited a fierce debate about the intersection of free speech, abortion and religion, a debate reignited by the recent Supreme Court decision overturning a buffer space around clinics in Massachusetts. For the first time, the 1996 Frontline documentary Murder on Abortion Row is streaming online.

US Lawmakers Must End Efforts to Curb Free Speech on Palestine

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu Common Dreams
I remain forever hopeful that, like the nonviolent efforts that have preceded it, the BDS movement will ultimately become a catalyst for honest peace and reconciliation for all our brothers and sisters, both Palestinian and Israeli, in the Holy Land.

The ‘Next Citizens United’ May Fuel a Popular Uprising

Katrina vanden Heuvel The Washington Post
The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission any day now. Given the Roberts court’s track record, the biggest campaign-finance decision since Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is likely to blow another gigantic hole in the fabric of our democracy.

labor

NLRB Poster Rule Likely Dead After Second Federal Court of Appeals Ruling

Amanda Becker Reuters
The decision on Friday by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a 2011 rule that required employers to post, physically or electronically, a notice describing workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act. It was the second time in as many months that a federal appeals court has rejected the rule, after the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals said last month the poster rule violated employers' free speech rights.
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