Palestine’s ‘Prayer for Rain’: How Israel Uses Water as a Weapon of War

Entire communities in the West Bank either have no access to water or have had their water supply reduced almost by half. This alarming development has been taking place for weeks, since Israel's national water company, “Mekorot”, decided to cut off - or significantly reduce - its water supply to Jenin, Salfit and many villages around Nablus, among other regions. Israel has been ‘waging a water war' against Palestinians.

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Why Are Mexican Teachers Being Jailed for Protesting Education Reform?

Source: The Nation

They’re peacefully resisting US-style neoliberal measures intended to crush the unions—a backbone of Mexico’s social-justice movements.

Update: On Sunday, June 19, federal police in Oaxaca fired on teachers and supporters in the Mixteca town of Nochixtlán, killing at least four and wounding 30 more.  Another was killed in Hacienda Blanca, near Oaxaca City, according to the press service AIPIN, which also reported that people were refused care at the hospital in Nochixtlán.  The federal government continues to refuse to talk with the CNTE.

On Sunday night, June 12, as Ruben Nuñez, head of Oaxaca’s teachers union, was leaving a meeting in Mexico City, his car was overtaken and stopped by several large king-cab pickup trucks. Heavily armed men in civilian clothes exited and pulled him, another teacher, and a taxi driver from their cab, and then drove them at high speed to the airport. Nuñez was immediately flown over a thousand miles north to Hermosillo, Sonora, and dumped into a high-security federal lockup. read more

“We’re Under Attack”: Burlington, VT Holds Vigil for Orlando Shooting

More than 1,500 people gathered in Burlington on the evening of Monday, June 13th to hold a collective vigil for the 49 victims of the recent mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Organized on the fly by the Pride Center of Vermont, the vigil celebrated Burlington's LGBTQ community and condemned ongoing violent homophobia and transphobia in Vermont and across the nation.

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People’s Summit Offers Hope for a Movement Bigger Than Bernie

Source: Common Dreams

A conference organized around the progressive issues that formed the cornerstone of Bernie Sanders’ presidential run has re-energized the American left, attendees said, as the gathering provoked conversations and connections that will invigorate political and social movements to come.

Coming in the wake of Sanders’ primary losses earlier this month, and after the recent murders in Orlando and in the U.K., the so-called People’s Summit became a “place of healing,” said activist and author Naomi Klein, who took part in the opening panel. read more

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America’s gun problem is so much bigger than mass shootings

Source: The Guardian Unlimited

US politicians often cite Australia as providing a model of impactful reform. Here’s why such blueprints likely won’t work to combat gun violence in the US

A disturbed man with an AR-15-style rifle walked through a popular historic site in 1996, shooting up the cafe and gift shop. He left 35 people dead and 19 seriously injured.

The country’s conservative leader pushed through immediate, sweeping changes to gun laws. Chief among them was a ban and mandatory buyback of more than 600,000 semiautomatic rifles and other long guns, which were then melted down. In all, one researcher estimates, the government ultimately destroyed about a million weapons – roughly one-third of its total gun stock. read more