Africa/Diaspora

Ethiopia: Rape, extrajudicial executions, homes set alight in security operations in Amhara and Oromia

Tensions have been high in Amhara after the Qimant, a minority group, voted for their own autonomous administrative unit in September 2017, resulting in clashes between the Amhara and Qimant communities. Amnesty International’s report reveals that the Liyu police, local administration militia and two Amhara youth vigilante groups joined forces to attack members of the Qimant community in January 2019, and again in September-October 2019, leaving at least 100 people dead and hundreds displaced. Qimant homes and property were also destroyed.

Global Prison Abolitionist

The Global Prison Abolitionist Coalition emerged from dialogues between organizations such as the Alliance of Middle Eastern and North African Socialists, Lausan Hong Kong, the Emergency Committee for Rojava, various Brazilian socialist and anti-racist organizations, Socialist Workers Alliance of Guyana Abolitionist Collective of Canada/U.S., Black and Pink, along with various Egyptian, Indian, Kashmiri, Kurdish, Turkish, Palestinian, and U.S. socialist activist-scholars, and prominent abolitionist scholar/activists among them are Dr. Romarilyn Ralston and Dr. Joy James. The formation of this coalition was compelled by the need to connect the struggles of political and social prisoners around the world. Here the coalition provides its statement of purpose.