American campuses have erupted in unprecedented protests against Israel’s war on Gaza and US complicity in supporting and financing it. Students and faculty are demanding that universities end their investments in Israel as well as their cooperation with Israeli institutions.
Police brutality in the US is inter-woven into the ruling power structure’s mode of operations as the long list of murders of innocent blacks shows.
In a terse statement that must have deeply disappointed the beleaguered Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the army expressed its “concern” about the escalating political violence. It also said force was not the way to deal with the situation. The crisis must be dealt with through political means. Sharif is under pressure to resign; how much longer can he hold out in these circumstances?
The military has ordered the police to use maximum force against peaceful protesters in Egypt. The police are happy to oblige as the rampage after Juma prayers today demonstrated yet again. At least 19 protesters were shot and killed across Egypt and dozens injured. Their crime? They were protesting against the forthcoming referendum on a new constitution that has been drafted by a committee hand-picked by the military.
Black activist Al Sharpton, who organised a vigil at the site of the shooting on February 9, asked at a forum on police brutality on the night of the shooting, ‘Are we talking about policing or are we talking about a firing squad?’ He pointed out that Amadou must have fallen to the ground after being hit twice or thrice.
Two New York police officers were convicted this month of the horrific and brutal torture of a Haitian immigrant, Abner Louima, on August 9, 1997. After his arrest outside a nightclub two years ago, Louima was beaten by four police officers in a car.
