Subjects Archives: Human Rights

The United States was never satisfied with having lost the Cuba subjected to its ambitions. Therefore, shortly after the victory of the guerrillas of the Sierra Maestra, they tried to invade the island with mercenary troops. They were defeated in April 1961. The following year, President Kennedy decreed the blockade of Cuba, which continues to this day.

With deep sadness and respect, Organizing Upgrade is sharing a few more tributes to movement elder Betita Martinez, who died June 29. In her 95 years she lived many lifetimes, and brought her commitment, wit and political clarity to several of the most significant social movements of our day.

Director Werner Herzog’s documentary ‘Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World’ (2016) begins with “Internet pioneer” Leonard Kleinrock, who welcomes us into the, yes, actual laboratory where it was “born”! To Wagnerian strains in the soundtrack, Kleinrock complacently calls the place “a holy shrine”–quite a revealing phrase for this acolyte of possibly the last of the false religions.

While there are plenty of reasons for ordinary Cubans to currently feel disenchanted about life on the island, there are also strong suspicions that these protests were not quite the grassroots uprising they were made out to be in the U.S. press.

Over eight days, from June 25-30, Haiti had been subjected to increasing state-sponsored, imperial and gang violence. Massacres killed almost 60 people in Port au Prince, including in Cité Soleil, Delmas and Pétionville, as well as on on Rue Magloire Ambroise.

FoodForward SA closes branches nationwide because of insecurity.

As rioters target supermarkets, activists call on the government to help those who cannot survive amid rising prices and mass unemployment.

Out of close to 250,000 Palestinian Beduin in the Naqab, about half live in “unrecognized villages.” This means they get no roads, no electricity or running water, no schools or medical facilities—no services at all.

Analysis the day after the Haitian president’s assassination focused on liberal constitutionalism and elections. This narrow view overlooks the longstanding demands from organized popular sectors.

In Keynes’ words: “It is not the ownership of the instruments of production which it is important for the State to assume. If the State is able to determine the aggregate amount of resources devoted to augmenting the instruments, and the basic rate of reward to those who own them, it will have accomplished all that is necessary.”

This is not a natural death, but the institutional murder of a gentle soul, committed by an inhuman state.

Largely abandoned by middle-class gays, urban parks remain an important refuge for gay migrants in an otherwise hostile city.

In this episode, we’re joined by Rohan Grey (@rohangrey), President of the Modern Money Network, Director of the National Jobs for All Coalition, Research Fellow at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, and JSD student at Cornell Law school. Our conversation is dedicated to Rohan’s current work on the political, economic, and cultural implications of money’s digital future.

Pentagon whistleblower Franz Gayl has been part of the United States Marine Corps for over four decades. He spent the last months trying to warn U.S. government officials and the public of the threat of becoming entangled in a war with China over Taiwan.

The story is getting wide coverage in Palestine but not in the United States, though these lands are the supposed basis of a “Palestinian state”–and again, five Palestinians have been killed defending their rights.

With its development of five COVID-19 vaccines and the promise of sharing know-how with developing countries, Cuba has remained faithful to Che Guevara’s values of international solidarity and people-oriented medicine.

A report by the National Indigenous Foundation (Funai) has revealed that seven mining boats carrying firearms fired on indigenous people from the Palimiú community in Roraima on May 10, since then they have suffered SEVEN DAYS of consecutive attacks

After being booked under the stringent anti-terror law for allegedly hatching a conspiracy that caused riots last year, the three activists, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha were granted bail by the Delhi High Court

Four years after the Grenfell Tower fire, rapper and activist Lowkey revisits the tragic fire that tore through the North Kensington tower block on June 14, 2017—killing 72 low-income residents of housing owned by real-estate moguls.

‘A man who acted as he thought best and who has been absolutely faithful to his convictions.’