This is a banner from the RGV rally at the Mexican Consulate today to protest the repression & violence against teachers in Oaxaca, Mexico. There were several teachers present, including my friend Emilia Alvarez Gamboa on the left.

It was a gathering of the clan–that cadre of activists who have committed their lives to social change–& was what is called a “small but spirited” rally because it was noon, sizzling hot, & most people were working.

Many get jaded about protests but they miss the essential gestalt: standing with others not just to “speak truth to power” but to change the power relations to the advantage of justice.

I had hoped to have a report on events in Oaxaca, Mexico but am delayed. There are solidarity rallies with the teachers around the US and will be one today in my town on the US-Mexico border.

Teachers & students are playing such an important & central role in the struggle against neoliberal attacks on education & social services all over Latin America & elsewhere. But teachers & students in Mexico have long been the vanguard & paid the price. Many were forced to flee for their lives to the US as undocumented immigrants. The Ayotzinapa 43 disappeared in September 2014 were students at a teacher college.

Our fullest solidarity with the teachers & students of Mexico for their intransigent courage against unspeakable violence & repression.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160623-has-myanmars-iconic-leader-taken-genocide-lessons-from-israel/

It’s a good thing vainglory is not the engine that makes Mary run. But I am still honored when my work is published or cited in other publications. Two friends just pointed out this article to me about Aung San Suu Kyi where I am quoted.

It’s an honor to be part of exposing Suu Kyi’s role in the genocide of the Rohingya people–not to bring a woman politician down but to render solidarity to the struggle for Rohingya justice.

The ruthless arriviste, Aung San Suu Kyi, on a state visit to Thailand:

Media reports are all about the throngs of “Burmese migrant” workers who came to cheer her. Discretion is the very soul of propaganda so there was no mention of the Rohingya refugees, the people who dare not speak their names in Myanmar but are forced to assume the false identity of Bengalis.

As a Nobel Peace Prize laureate & vaunted “Mandela of Asia,” did she at least enquire why Thailand refused to rescue Rohingya last year when thousands were adrift in boats without food & water? Did she express concern about the 36 mass graves in the Thai jungle believed to be Rohingya fleeing genocide by the military junta in Myanmar? Or did she ask about the prosecution of top Thai military officers for human trafficking of Rohingya?

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the congresswoman from Hawaii who endorsed the Sanders campaign, spoke at The People’s Summit last weekend in Chicago where Sandernistas met to discuss perspectives after their candidate bombed out.

Gabbard has a strong anti-interventionist stance which went over well with the Sandernistas & also goes over strong with supporters of Assad who are circulating her videos opposing US intervention in Syria because she supports Assad.

This is a real bad case of laying down with flea-bitten dogs. She has some progressive views. For that matter, so does Drumpf. But when she goes sour, she goes to a very dark place & associates with the most loathsome, reactionary forces in world politics: General Sisi, Narendra Modi, Netanyahu, Assad.

Saudi Arabia, which beheads, publicly flogs, & crucifies dissidents & legally defines atheists as terrorists, has been chosen to head a UN panel which selects officials to formulate human rights standards & monitor violations internationally. Earlier this year they tried to assume leadership of the entire 47-member UN Human Rights Council but lost.

Many marvel at the insanity of this & there is widespread objection. But in its own way it makes perfect sense. Who else would the UN select to head it up? The US with its Guantanamo, other torture prisons & many wars? Russia, which is bombing hospitals in Syria? Mexico, which has killed over 100,000 civilians in the past several years & is now shooting at unarmed striking teachers? Kenya, which is shooting down unarmed students? China, with the legacy of Tiananmen Square? Apartheid Israel? God forbid, the UK? Almost all 47 members have extensive criminal rap sheets.

Let’s just cut to the chase on the US Supreme Court deadlock on the Texas v US case which thwarts Obama’s executive orders in 2012 & 2014 regarding undocumented immigrants. The executive orders set up two programs: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012 & Deferred Action for Parents of Americans & Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) in 2014. After 26 states challenged the legality of the executive actions, a Texas court issued an injunction halting their implementation & expansion. This Supreme Court deadlock upholds that injunction.

Anybody with an ounce of skepticism should have seen all this coming like a Mack truck going the wrong way in a rose garden. DACA & DAPA were always scams. They are deferred deportation programs where you hand the government your identity & location without receiving any promises or legal commitments in return. That way they know just where to pick you up when DACA & DAPA are reversed. We are told this Supreme Court action does not signal the beginning of massive deportations but that is small comfort when immigration agencies are now engaged in a massive deportation campaign.

What it does mean immediately is that several states will employ their ‘prosecutorial discretion’ to deny driver’s licenses & the employment & educational opportunities opened to DACA & DAPA recipients. Under the destructive 1997 Clinton welfare reforms, undocumented immigrants were not made eligible for benefits like food stamps, Medicaid, or Obama Care even if they registered for DACA or DAPA.

The reason these legal challenges should not come as a surprise is that Obama made clear DACA & DAPA were not an amnesty. They were provisional & had several restrictions, including age, residency, & time restrictions. One must register & reregister every two years to become eligible for a work permit. It was certain from the outset that they would be legally challenged & reversed.

According to estimates, about 3.7 million immigrants were eligible for DACA & DAPA (out of the nearly 12 million undocumented immigrants in the US) but by December 31, 2015, only 700,00 were recipients. According to US immigration services, by June 2014, 24,000 applicants had been refused. It would be important to know what happened to those who were refused since they were undocumented & immigration officials now knew where they & their families lived & worked.

Apparently many undocumented immigrants were skeptical about registering since the overwhelming majority did not. That was probably because the Obama administration had already deported more immigrants & conducted more workplace raids hunting for undocumented workers than even Bush. His deportation policies flout child welfare by deporting parents & forcing thousands of children into a dangerous, bloated foster care system. Meanwhile, thousands of unaccompanied minors caught trying to cross the US-Mexico border are offered detainment in place of social services.

This is a photo published in 2014 by the conservative Brietbart website of immigrants in a US Border Patrol holding facility in the Rio Grande Valley on the Texas-Mexico border. In any sane society, stuffing stressed, exhausted human beings like sardines into such conditions would be called human rights crimes.

Immigration is a human right. Open the borders.

American parents wrestle with the issue of allowing their kids to play with toy guns–which is an irony in a nation steeped in militarism & gun culture. But it’s the parental way of shielding kids, hoping they won’t be caught up in it.

These are Kashmiri kids who grow up in “the most militarized region in the world.” They can’t be shielded since they are the targets.

How unspeakable it is that children in places like Kashmir & Palestine are deprived of the carefree days of childhood & forced to face the gruesome barbarisms of occupation.

My little birds are so cute. They used to surround me & tweet their little hearts out if I missed the time for their treats. Now they attack me until I put it out. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9RetBax0mM

There is nothing a senior rebel likes more than seeing rebellion against injustice emerge among the young. It’s better than all the longevity elixirs combined. So I am delighted that Dorian Haqmoun & Rollie Mukherjee have introduced me & others to the marvelous Kashmiri rapper 26-year-old MC Kash–who has things to teach seniors about resistance to occupation & oppression.

I’ve now watched YouTube interviews with him & a documentary titled “Take It In Blood.” This video titled “I Protest” is about protests that began in June 2010 when tens of thousands of Kashmiris took to the streets to protest that Indian soldiers set up & murdered three young men in a staged encounter. Indian riot police responded to the protests with tear gas, rubber bullets, & live ammunition, killing 112 unarmed protesters, including teenagers & an 11-year-old boy.