Human rights/civil liberties Archives - Attention to the Unseen

China is claiming the right to punish its critics anywhere on Earth

From elsewhere — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:42:37 +0000

By Reza Hasmath, University of Alberta On July 1, China brought into force its Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, converting a decade of Xi Jinping’s doctrine of “forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation” into binding law. Most attention has gone to its domestic machinery: entrenching Mandarin over minority languages, unified state textbooks and “inter-embedded” neighbourhoods engineered to dilute concentrations of Uyghurs and Tibetans among the Han majority. In other words, this is an assimilationist...

Read More Read More

The post China is claiming the right to punish its critics anywhere on Earth appeared first on Attention to the Unseen.

The shame of the American Jewish establishment

From elsewhere — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:52:06 +0000

Peter Beinart writes: At the end of 2015, soon after taking over as CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt brought the organization’s leadership to Georgia and Alabama. The journey constituted a kind of homage to the ADL’s role in the civil rights movement. In an essay about the trip, Greenblatt noted that in 1965, his predecessor, Benjamin Epstein, had summoned the ADL’s top staff to Selma, where they joined Martin Luther King Jr. in one of...

Read More Read More

The post The shame of the American Jewish establishment appeared first on Attention to the Unseen.

In Memphis, an ‘anti-crime’ task force quietly turned into an ICE crackdown

From elsewhere — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:44:50 +0000

NPR reports: When President Trump announced an anti-crime task force for Memphis last fall, federal and local officials never mentioned immigration enforcement as a goal. But the influx of federal agents into the city has led to widespread immigration arrests — a majority without criminal convictions, according to an Institute for Public Service Reporting data analysis. NPR reviewed arrest data and spoke with lawyers, immigrants, activists and community members to piece together the task force’s impact on Memphis over the...

Read More Read More

The post In Memphis, an ‘anti-crime’ task force quietly turned into an ICE crackdown appeared first on Attention to the Unseen.

Nicaragua’s president says country will not hold any more elections

From elsewhere — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:06:00 +0000

The Guardian reports: Nicaragua’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, has said the country will hold no further elections to prevent the opposition from coming to power. The 80-year-old authoritarian leader, who has been in office since 2007, also said he would work with the congress he controls to pass new laws that would “build a wall” against the opposition. Ortega made the announcement on Sunday during the official ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution, in which he...

Read More Read More

The post Nicaragua’s president says country will not hold any more elections appeared first on Attention to the Unseen.

How Joe Biden enabled Israel’s aggression toward Gaza — and Iran

From elsewhere — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:23:19 +0000

David D. Kirkpatrick writes: On March 5, 2024, five months into the war in Gaza, Mirjana Spoljaric, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, sent a confidential letter to President Joe Biden. Under the Geneva Conventions, the Red Cross holds a unique responsibility to counsel states about avoiding war crimes. In the letter, which I obtained from a former United States official, Spoljaric reminded Biden that the organization had condemned the “horrific” October 7th massacre of Israelis...

Read More Read More

The post How Joe Biden enabled Israel’s aggression toward Gaza — and Iran appeared first on Attention to the Unseen.

Gaza flotilla activist recounts being raped by Israeli prison guards

From elsewhere — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 01:28:28 +0000

The Guardian reports: The third time Anna Liedtke was subjected to an illegal strip-search in Israeli detention, female prison guards forced her on to her knees, covered her mouth to stop her screaming and raped her, according to interviews and a criminal complaint filed in Israel. She described hearing male guards laughing during the attack, which she believes they watched and may have filmed. It took place in an area separated from the prison hallway by a partially drawn curtain...

Read More Read More

The post Gaza flotilla activist recounts being raped by Israeli prison guards appeared first on Attention to the Unseen.

White House explores entrenching U.S. concentration camps worldwide

From elsewhere — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:54:45 +0000

Andrea Pitzer writes: Last week, I got a message from journalist Charles Davis. He asked me to comment for an article about a call for contractors he’d noticed on Sam.gov. The U.S. government, it seemed, was looking for businesses to partner with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, and to fulfill other U.S. Government operational needs overseas. This particular search for partners to collaborate with DHS was framed as maintaining a fleet of aircraft for use in its operations....

Read More Read More

The post White House explores entrenching U.S. concentration camps worldwide appeared first on Attention to the Unseen.

Driver in Maine, not target of a warrant, shot and killed by ICE in front of three-year old daughter

From elsewhere — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:24:22 +0000

The Daily Beast reports: An ICE-involved shooting has left one man dead in Maine, with an eyewitness saying he was killed in front of his three-year-old daughter, who was wearing Bluey pajamas. The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition identified the victim as a 26-year-old Colombian man. The group said he was authorized to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number. He was reportedly heading to work at the time he was shot. The account appeared to...

Read More Read More

The post Driver in Maine, not target of a warrant, shot and killed by ICE in front of three-year old daughter appeared first on Attention to the Unseen.

T-shirt saying, ‘Bombing kids is not self defense,’ offends United Airlines flight attendant

From elsewhere — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:23:40 +0000

CBS News reports: A New Jersey man says his T-shirt nearly got him kicked off a United Airlines flight. Sam Saadeh, of Linden, was on a flight traveling from Atlanta to Newark Liberty International Airport on June 4 while wearing a T-shirt that said, “Bombing kids is not self defense.” Saadeh, who is of Palestinian descent, said the T-shirt holds a deeper meaning and advocates for children. According to a recent United Nations report, more than 20,000 children have been...

Read More Read More

The post T-shirt saying, ‘Bombing kids is not self defense,’ offends United Airlines flight attendant appeared first on Attention to the Unseen.

Rep. Ro Khanna says ‘IDF is lying’ about his detention by settlers and soldiers

From elsewhere — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:42:56 +0000

The Guardian reports: Ro Khanna accused the Israeli government and military of “lying” on Sunday about the US congressman’s detention by armed settlers and Israeli soldiers during a recent visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Khanna – a California Democrat – had posted video evidence on social media of Israeli settlers and soldiers blocking the path of his convoy on Wednesday in the South Hebron hills, near the village of Zanuta, where Israelis have driven Palestinians from their homes in...

Read More Read More

The post Rep. Ro Khanna says ‘IDF is lying’ about his detention by settlers and soldiers appeared first on Attention to the Unseen.