Frank Crichlow (1932 - 2010) was a community activist and civil rights campaigner. He founded the Mangrove restaurant which became the centre for Black civil rights activism in Britain which led to the infamous Mangrove Nine trials of 1970 and the first admission of institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police force.
Video smuggled out of Israel that captures the Israeli Navy threatening to open fire on a boat containing human rights activists who were delivering aid, following the massacres in Gaza under Operation Cast Lead 2008/2009 during which over 1,400 people were killed and over 50,000 people displaced.
With the US's political landscape under more scrutiny than ever before, citizens of the US are rapidly calling for change.
Will history ever stop repeating itself? A statement on the illegalities of war and the actions which should be taken to stop the outbreak of war.
Robin Miller looks at some of the propaganda tactics used by the mainstream media to help shape public opinion and perceptions about the Israel/Palestine conflict.
With gas prices at an all-time high, oil conglomerates are, now more than ever, looking to Africa for its relatively untapped resources.
Zimbabwean political analyst George Shire talks to Ishmahil Blagrove, Jr. about the recent elections in his country, the cause of the crisis and the impact of Western interference on the democratic process of change in Zimbabwe.
A quarter of a century after the Soweto Uprising, the linguistic and social divides which underly the upheaval are still a pressing issue.
Pat Dodson, winner of the 2008 Sydney Peace Prize, talks to Ishmahil Blagrove, Jr. about the plight of Australia's indigenous people, the recent government apology and the opportunities for black and white Australians to resolve their differences.
With religious intolerance now at the ugly centre of many of the world's major conflicts, it is important to look at the concepts of spirituality and the clashes of conformity within the contexts of organized religion.
Both the government and monarchy fail to acknowledge any hypocrisy in Britain’s masquerade as a champion of human rights and democracy while simultaneously playing host to one of the world’s most corrupt and infamous abusers of human rights: the dictator and ruler of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah.
The western media’s coverage of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to the United Nations was disgraceful and the worst type of media propaganda imaginable. It is this type of shameful news reporting that epitomizes the biased stance of many news agencies that claim to uphold balanced and ethical values in broadcasting.
As one of the most famous actor/directors in cinematic history, Charlie Chaplin broke the boundaries of self-centered Hollywood entertainers, using his popularity to publicly expose injustice through his work. In 1940, he produced a film entitled The Great Dictator as an act of defiance against Adolf Hitler and a great condemnation of fascism and Nazism.
Youth violence is again at the top of the news agenda as the result of the recent murder of Rhys Jones, an eleven-year-old boy from Liverpool. His callous slaying at such a tender age has shocked the nation and sparked a series of public and media debates about the phenomenon of youth violence and its root causes.
Dr. Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker and economist who has extensively spoken out against the evils of poverty across the globe. The following is an excerpt from his 2006 Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
By all accounts, there is untold suffering and serious human rights abuses taking place, with reports of rape, amputations, and destruction to civilian life and property. But these terrible acts are a general symptom of war, so should the events that have been taking place in Darfur over the past few years be described as a 'genocide'?
The following is a translation of Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech made at Riad Solh Square on Tuesday, 8 March, 2005, in central Beirut.
The following statement is an excerpt from a speech made by Jean-Paul Sartre at a press conference of the French Liaison Committee against Apartheid on 9 November 1966 in Paris.
Why, or more importantly, how has the disappearance of a four-year-old girl sparked such a frenzy amongst the world's media and in particular, the British public? We’ve entered the age of entertainment news - an age where the importance of a news story is not determined by the public value of its content but rather by its ability to mesmerise and sustain its viewers.
Walter Cronkite is one of the most famous reporters in American history. Having served as a front-line journalist since the Vietnam War, he has tremendous experience with government censorship and its progression from the 1960s to the present. In the following essay, he discusses that progression and comments on the condition of war-time journalism today.
The following is an excerpt from a speech delivered by Fidel Castro in 1962. With the recent rise of socialist movements throughout Latin America, it is interesting to look back on Castro’s words looking forwards in the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, forseeing and warning of today’s imperialistic world.
On April 24 + 25, 2007, American Idol hosted a much anticipated benefit during their weekly air-times, entitled “Idol Gives Back.” The well-advertised campaign was designed with the intention of raising funds for various charitable organizations, including Save the Children, America's Second Harvest, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Children’s Health Fund, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria, Malaria No More, Nothing But Nets, Save the Children, and UNICEF.
Burmese Buddhist Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar. As a prisoner of conscience, her peaceful and non-violent struggle against a repressive regime has earned her such notable recognitions as the Rafto Prize and the Nobel Peace Prize. The following is an excerpt from “Freedom from Fear,” an essay she published to commemorate her winning of the 1990 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
Iran’s capture of fifteen British sailors is fast becoming an international dispute that may hold serious repercussions for both nations. As politicians on both sides scramble to win the propaganda war of words, accusation and counter-accusation, the dispute is slowly beginning to morph itself into a clash of the two nations’ personalities: Iran’s obstinacy vs. Britain’s arrogance.
Bayonets can now be removed, as the hand-to-hand combat that was widely predicted within the Labour Party has truly been averted; Gordon Brown is the “new” Labour Prime Minister.
Walter Rodney was a prominent Pan-African activist, scholar, professor, lecturer, and writer. Originally from Guyana, Rodney was active in the Black Power Movements all throughout the Caribbean and North America. He fought against racism and for the rights of the working poor.
From our armchairs, in front of our TVs, furnished with too many channel choices, we could be lulled into the belief that the institution of slavery has been buried in the annuals of history. We are led to think of slavery as being only associated with shackles, chains, and auction blocks, ships on middle passages.
annual ceremony and feature in the Western calendar that encourages nations around the world to remember the sufferings and torment of the Jewish people. It has become a part of the global educational curriculum along with Holocaust memorial centres that are scattered throughout the world. The mantra of this Holocaust Remembrace is “Lest We Forget.” Yet most have already forgotten the gypsies, blacks, POW´s and others who suffered the same fate, often at the same camps and at the hands of the same tormenters.
On April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City. These prophetic words are probably the least known of all of King’s speeches, yet today, it seems to be one of the most crucial speeches to remember in the face of current world events. The following is an excerpt from that speech.
It is important to note that many scholars have argued that had King refrained from addressing the Vietnam War through his stirring oratory, he would still be alive today.
In the last two US presidential elections, the American public really missed the boat in terms of the central focus of their decision-making processes. Forget the electoral versus the popular vote, the ballot issues, the lack of a paper trail, or even the voter-caging. Even before the people were able to sing “Hail to the Thief,” the public already had it all wrong.
