To Tame the Savageness Of Man: We Honor You, Sir
Mournfully - and astoundingly for those of us who so clearly remember it - we mark the 56th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on a Memphis motel balcony in what is a dark America still riven by the same hate that killed him, and still woefully failing to fulfill his goal of racial equity. Robert Kennedy, the long-ago night of King's death: "It is perhaps well to ask what kind of nation we are, and what direction we want to move in."
Civil rights "trailblazer, prophet, and champion of justice," King was struck down at just 39 by a single bullet to the neck on April 4, 1968. He had come to Memphis the day before to help striking sanitation workers rally for better wages and safer working conditions. The night of April 3, speaking extemporaneously to an overflow crowd at the Mason Temple, he gave what became his prophetic final speech, urging his audience, "We've got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. "We've got some difficult days ahead," he warned. "But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop...And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
The next evening, as King stood on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel, he was fatally wounded by a rifle fired from a rooming house across the street; he lost consciousness and was pronounced dead at St. Joseph’s Hospital about an hour later. In one later book account, when his "grieving disciples" - Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young and several others - left the hospital, "back they went to Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel." It was both a grim spot to reconvene, with King's blood still staining the balcony cement, and an apt place to mourn with its remnants of his last day on earth - his attaché case, a crumpled white shirt, a half-filled Styrofoam coffee cup, his Bible. In their anguish, they brooded: What would happen to their movement, who could take King's place, how could they help stop the rioting that had swiftly broken out at the news, "the violent antithesis of everything for which King had stood."
To millions of black Americans, King represented their hopes for the commitment of white America to racial equality. To them, the next day's New York Times obituary read, King was "the prophet of their crusade for racial equality, their voice of anguish, their eloquence in humiliation, their battle cry for human dignity...He forged for them the weapons of nonviolence that withstood and blunted the ferocity of segregation." Said Stokely Carmichael, "When (America) killed Dr. King, (she) killed the one man of our race that this country’s older generation, the militants and the revolutionaries, and the masses of black people would still listen to." In the motel room that night, though, King's comrades found "consolation in a 19-inch Philco Starlite television set" where they saw former Attorney General and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy announce the death to a mostly black crowd in Indianapolis.
One account describes that 24 hours as "a tragic, extraordinary moment in American history" when two of the nation's most visible leaders, one black, one white, each offered "elegant statements of belief" - King, his final night before, Kennedy, coincidentally campaigning as the news hit and word of the riots began to spread. In his book The Promise and the Dream, David Margolick describes a "wary" relationship between two men often "shadow-boxing," "not pals" - the racial and cultural divide was too broad - but allies. Said the ever-generous John Lewis, who worked with both, "They were friends and didn’t even know they were friends." Kennedy's staff tried to dissuade him from speaking to the crowd - too politically and literally dangerous - but Kennedy was newly at home and welcome in the black community, and so stubborn he liked to echo press criticism by calling himself “Senator Ruthless."
He spoke soon after King was declared dead; as audio starts, you hear him ask aides, "Do they know about Martin Luther King?" Standing on the back of a flatbed truck, wrapped in his big brother’s old overcoat, he spoke for seven minutes; he held some notes, glanced briefly at them, then ignored them. "I have bad news for you," he told the crowd in the city's worst neighborhood. "Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight." Shrieks from the crowd. Kennedy calmly went on. "(King) dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort," he said. "In this difficult time, (it) is perhaps well to ask what kind of nation we are and what direction we want to move in." "For those of you who are black," he said, they may wish to move toward bitterness, hate, revenge; or they could try to understand, have compassion and move past "the injustice of such an act."
Incongruously - impossibly, in today's dumbed-down America - he summoned "my favorite poet Aeschylus," the ancient Greek often deemed the father of tragedy: "Even in our sleep, pain which we cannot forget falls drop by drop from the heart, until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God." What America needed was not division, hatred, violence, but "love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice towards those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black." Silence from the crowd; he stands, unsure. Then, a slow rise of applause. Aeschylus, again. "Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago, to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world," he said. "Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and our people."
To King's grieving allies watching from the Lorraine Motel, "Bobby Kennedy’s was the only voice we identified with that night - we were grateful he was out there." In that fraught moment, said Andrew Young, "We wanted to get on television and tell people not to fight, not to burn down the cities...to get the message out 'this is not what Dr. King would have you doing,' but the press didn't want to talk to us." In the next days, violence erupted in over 125 American cities across 29 states; nearly 50,000 federal troops occupied urban areas, with 40 deaths, many arrests and injuries, vast property damage. But Indianapolis stayed calm. For many, it seemed Kennedy had "picked up (King's) torch," Young said, but they also somehow questioned "how long he would get to hold it." Two months later, after winning the California primary on June 5, Kennedy was shot and killed in the kitchen of a Los Angeles hotel.
This week, marking the mournful anniversary, members of the King family still sought to address RFK's decades-old, still-unrealized plea "to ask what kind of a nation we are," and then righteously act on it. "Daddy, it's been 56 years, and your presence is still dearly missed. Your words bring comfort and direction despite your absence from your earthly body," wrote daughter Bernice King. And from The King Center, "We honor you, sir." Relatives made a rare, painful trip back to Memphis and the site of King's murder, now the National Civil Rights Museum, to decry the enduring evils of racism, poverty, war and political violence he preached and fought against. In this very, very dark moment" in a right-leaning America, they said, "We are asking for us all to stand together, to walk together, to continue his work together to make real his dream of the beloved community." And may he rest in power.
Climate Advocates ‘Confident’ in Victory as Shell Appeals Landmark Ruling
Shell appealed a case on Tuesday at The Hague that ordered the fossil fuel giant to drastically cut its greenhouse gas emissions.
A Dutch court ordered the company in 2021 to reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. Shell is arguing that customers will turn to other fuel suppliers if it obeys the order.
"This case has no legal basis," Shell's lawyer Daan Lunsingh Scheurleer told the court. "It obstructs the role that Shell can and wants to play in the energy transition."
"Oil and gas will play an important role in both the security of supply and affordability during the energy transition," he claimed.
NEW: Shell is appealing against a landmark order to cut greenhouse gas emissions, after rowing back on its climate targets.
It's a desperate attempt at justifying more oil and gas extraction amidst warnings from experts and increasing climate impacts.
Shell must be stopped. pic.twitter.com/jC0TrDU8VD
— #StopRosebank (@StopCambo) April 2, 2024
Friends of the Earth Netherlands, which brought the case against Shell, said the "scientific basis" for its case has "only solidified" since the initial ruling.
"I am confident that we can once again convince the judges that Shell needs to act in line with international climate agreements," the group's lawyer Roger Cox said.
.@Shell appeal against 2021 historic #climate ruling starts April 2 and @milieudefensie are ready!
“Shell is constantly trying to run away from its responsibility to stop dangerous climate change, but they can't bolt from the courtroom" says @DonaldPols https://t.co/bPlVIXTnI5
— Friends of the Earth International (@FoEint) March 28, 2024
The court order affects the company as a whole, not just its operations in the Netherlands. A verdict on the appeal is expected later this year.
"Shell aims to reduce the carbon intensity of products it sells by 15-20% by 2030 from a 2016 baseline after watering down the target in March," Reutersreports. "Shell has an 'ambition' to reduce customer emissions from the use of its oil products by 15-20% by 2030 compared with 2021. Shell also aims to become a 'net zero' emissions company by 2050."
A report from last year found Shell knew about the impacts of burning fossil fuels much earlier than previously known.
Corporate Prosecutions Up Under Biden, Says Watchdog, But Not Nearly Enough
While welcoming a "modest uptick" in corporate prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice last year, the watchdog Public Citizen on Monday called for the "bold ramp-up Biden DOJ leadership promised early in the administration."
Federal prosecutions of corporations over the past 25 years peaked in 2000, at 304, according to the organization's analysis of various datasets. After the turn of the century, figures trended down, with a low of 90 in 2021, the year that President Joe Biden was sworn in. Since then, the numbers have started to climb again—hitting 99 in 2022 and 113 in 2023.
However, the impact isn't felt equally across the corporate world. Last year, "about 76% of the corporations DOJ prosecuted had only 50 employees or less, while only about 12% had 1,000 employees or more," the report states. "This is the continuation of a long-standing trend—about 70% of the 4,946 corporations the federal government prosecuted between 1992 and 2021 were small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Only about 6% employed 1,000 or more."
"Prosecutions remain far too few, and the ongoing overuse of leniency deals for big corporations that break the law continues to undermine deterrence."
Still, "the increase in corporate prosecutions is a welcome shift from the previous decline, and the new policy of rewarding corporate crime whistleblowers could go further toward restoring enforcement," said Rick Claypool, a Public Citizen research director who authored the report, in a statement Monday.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced the "DOJ-run whistleblower rewards program," through which an individual who helps the department discover "significant corporate or financial misconduct" could receive some of the forfeiture, in a speech to the American Bar Association's 39th National Institute on White Collar Crime earlier this month.
Although Claypool applauded the progress, he also emphasized that "prosecutions remain far too few, and the ongoing overuse of leniency deals for big corporations that break the law continues to undermine deterrence."
The report explains that "prosecutors use DOJ leniency agreements—deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) and nonprosecution agreements (NPAs)—to avoid filing criminal charges against corporate defendants. Originally developed to offer nonviolent first-time individual offenders a second chance, such agreements now help the most powerful businesses in the world dodge the legal consequences of their criminal misconduct."
Previous Public Citizen research shows that "about 15% of the agreements historically involve repeat offenders, casting doubt on their deterrent effect," the report notes. "Most corporate repeat offenders that receive leniency agreements from the Department of Justice are large multinationals. Of the 14 corporations that received leniency deals in 2023, the majority (10, or 71%) had at least 5,000 employees or more."
Of those who took deals last year, the watchdog highlighted "generic pharmaceutical companies Teva and Glenmark, multinational tobacco corporation British American Tobacco, the Illinois subsidiary of telecommunications corporation AT&T, and the Swiss multinational technology firm ABB."
While calling out the DOJ for creating "the appearance that some businesses are 'too big to jail'" with its leniency agreements, Public Citizen also lauded Monaco's recent remarks about "delivering consequences for corporate recidivists."
"A history of misconduct matters," she said during the early March address. "After all, penalties exist, in part, to deter future misconduct. They're not the cost of doing business. So when a company breaks the law again—and it's clear the message wasn't received—we need to ratchet up the sanctions."
As the report details:
The first example Monaco provides of the Justice Department holding corporate repeat offenders accountable is Ericsson. Ericsson breached its 2019 leniency agreement with the DOJ to resolve allegations of criminal violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Kuwait. Following the breach—failing to meet cooperation and disclosure requirements—the DOJ subsequently prosecuted the corporation for its misconduct.
Other major corporations that have been prosecuted after breaching leniency agreements include the multinational agrichemical corporation Monsanto and the financial corporation formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest Group, which reportedly rebranded in part to dissociate itself from its past misconduct.
"The DOJ's fresh willingness to hold corporate offenders accountable for leniency agreement breaches is among the strongest and most necessary corporate accountability reforms implemented by the Biden administration," the report says. "It's also one that is currently facing its greatest test: Boeing."
Boeing entered into DPA in 2021, after a pair of deadly 737 MAX 8 jet crashes in 2018 and 2019. In January, a door plug flew off a 737 MAX 9 during a flight, resulting in an emergency landing and fresh scrutiny—including a DOJ criminal investigation.
In a February letter to DOJ leaders including Monaco and Attorney General Merrick Garland, Weissman wrote that "if the DOJ finds that Boeing again violated the law, Boeing should be prosecuted both for its original and its subsequent misconduct."
As Common Dreamsreported earlier Monday, Boeing announced that its commercial airplanes division leader will leave immediately, the chairman of the board will resign after the annual meeting in May, and the CEO will step down at the end of this year.
"Of course CEO Dave Calhoun should be dismissed," responded Weissman. "But for real and lasting change to occur, Boeing must now be held criminally accountable both for the recent safety failures and the... crashes that took 346 lives."
Amid Federal Layoffs, Biden Rule Protects Civil Servants From Political Firings
Approximately 90,000 people across the United States lost their jobs in March, and roughly a third were in the federal government, making last month the worst for job losses since January 2023.
However, a new rule introduced by the Biden administration aims at protecting the jobs of civil servants in the federal government, which goes against the plans former President Donald Trump has should he return to office.
"Career federal employees deliver critical services for Americans in every community," said U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director Kiran Ahuja. "This final rule honors our 2.2 million career civil servants, helping ensure that people are hired and fired based on merit and that they can carry out their duties based on their expertise and not political loyalty."
Biden stmnt on new OPM rule being finalized that tightens job securities for civil servants + limits the positions that can have those protections removed
(Trump allies view this as more a speedbump than a roadblock to dramatically overhaul the civil service should Trump win) pic.twitter.com/k4y8JQtvBE
— Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) April 4, 2024
Trump intends to fire tens of thousands of career civil servants in the federal government and replace them with loyalists if he returns to the White House—part of the far-right initiative Project 2025, aimed at consolidating Trump's power and avoiding any obstacles to the goals which he hopes to accomplish.
"President Biden's action reinforces and clarifies federal employees' due process rights and civil service protections, strengthening the apolitical civil service and hampering efforts to return the government to a corrupt spoils system," said American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelle.
"President Biden's predecessor and other conservatives have made clear," added Kelle. "They would support stripping hundreds of thousands of federal employees of their civil service rights and protections and turning them into at-will workers who could be hired or fired at any time for political reasons."
Ugandan Court Upholds 'One of the Most Extreme Anti-LGBTI Laws in the World'
Human rights defenders on Wednesday condemned a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Uganda upholding most of the African nation's so-called "Kill the Gays" law criminalizing sex between consenting adults of the same sex and imposing the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality."
The court's five justices largely affirmed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 (AHA)—signed into law last year by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni amid widespread condemnation from Western nations and international human rights groups—as being consistent with the country's constitution.
However, the justices struck down four sections of the law that criminalized renting properties for use in same-sex sexual acts and failure to report such acts to the authorities, finding that those provisions violate portions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights related to health, privacy, and religious freedom rights.
"This ruling is wrong and deplorable," said Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda. "Uganda's Constitution protects all of its people, equally. We continue to call for this law to be repealed. We are calling on all governments, [United Nations] partners, and multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the Global Fund to likewise intensify their demand that this law be struck down because it is discriminatory."
Tigere Chagutah, a regional director at Amnesty International, said that "it is shocking that an opportunity was missed to revoke a law that undermines the rights of LGBTI persons in Uganda, their allies, human rights defenders, and activists by criminalizing consensual same-sex acts, 'promotion' of homosexuality with all its vagueness as an offense, and contemplates the death penalty for the offense of 'aggravated homosexuality."
"As we mark the 10th anniversary of the African Commission's Resolution 275 on the protection against violence and human rights violations against persons on the basis of their real or imputed sexual orientation or gender identity, the government of Uganda must repeal the entire Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 and ensure accountability for the attacks against LGBTI people," Chagutah added.
Amnesty called the Ugandan law "one of the most extreme anti-LGBTI laws in the world."
Human Rights Campaign president Kelly Robinson said in a statement: "For the Constitutional Court of Uganda to uphold such a draconian law in any capacity is a horrific display of hatred that will mean further discrimination and physical harm for LGBTQ+ Ugandans. Over the last year, we have mourned the wave of violence targeting the LGBTQ+ community, and we know that this decision will only result in further damage."
Rightify Ghana, which advocates for sexual minorities in Africa, called Wednesday's ruling "deeply disappointing" and "a significant setback for human rights and democracy in Uganda."
"Human rights and democracy are under attack, not just in Uganda, but across Africa," the group added. "It is crucial that our courts uphold the constitution and protect the rights of all citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity."
Under the Ugandan law, people convicted of "aggravated homosexuality"—defined as same-sex sexual acts by HIV-positive people or with children, disabled people, or anyone deemed vulnerable—can be hanged to death. The law punishes same-sex acts with life imprisonment and attempted same-sex acts with 10 years behind bars. It also criminalizes the "promotion" of LGBTQ+ rights.
According to the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum, a Ugandan advocacy group, 55 people have been arrested under the law, including three who face possible execution. At least eight people have been subjected to forced anal examinations, while 254 people accused of either being or associating with LGBTQ+ people have been evicted from their homes.
Rights groups have also sounded the alarm on anti-gay "witch hunts" and violence targeting LGBTQ+ Ugandans.
The law has sparked international outrage and alarm. In the United States, the Biden administration responded by cutting aid to Uganda, imposing visa restrictions on its citizens, and canceling a planned regional military exercise.
"The announcement that some provisions of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act have been removed by the Constitutional Court is a small and insufficient step towards safeguarding human rights," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday in response to the ruling.
"The United States is deeply concerned about the remaining provisions which undermine public health, human rights, and Uganda's international reputation," she added. "As the president has said time and time again, no one should have to live in constant fear nor be subjected to violence or discrimination. It is wrong. We will continue to work to advance respect for human rights for all in Uganda and also around the world."
The Delegation of the European Union to Uganda also condemned Wednesday's ruling, calling the AHA "contrary to international human rights law."
"The E.U. also regrets the retention of the death penalty, to which the E.U. is opposed in all circumstances," the delegation added.
Advocates have noted the role of European colonization and U.S. evangelicals in demonizing and outlawing homosexuality in Africa.
The Ugandan LGBTQ+ advocacy group Convening for Equality lamented that the Ugandan court missed an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of other African nations including Mozambique, Botswana, Seychelles, Mauritius, Gabon, Cape Verde, South Africa, and Angola that "have recognized anti-gay laws as remnants of colonial rule, and repealed them through law reform processes and court decisions."
"In the summary released describing the basis for their ruling, the court only cited one case by name: the U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the right to abortion, Dobbs v. Jackson [Women's Health Organization], as providing justification for upholding criminalization of [LGBTQ+] Ugandans," the group added. "Advocates noted that this could point to influence on Uganda's judiciary by the U.S. extremist hate groups who funded that U.S. Supreme Court challenge."
'No More Money' for Israel, Says Sanders as Biden Official Privately Warns of Imminent Famine Declaration
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders responded to the news Wednesday that a top Biden administration official warned Israel of an imminent famine declaration in Gaza with one demand.
"No more money for Netanyahu," said the Vermont Independent senator, referring to right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As Axiosreported Wednesday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned Israeli officials in a virtual meeting earlier this week that the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) could in the coming weeks declare a famine in Gaza, which would be only the third such declaration worldwide in the 21st century.
Famines were declared in South Sudan in 2017 and in Somalia in 2011—starvation crises that killed tens of thousands of people.
The IPC identified two of Gaza's five governorates as experiencing famine "with reasonable evidence" last month, but an official declaration for the enclave would represent a significant turning point in Israel's bombardment and blocking of aid in Gaza, Sullivan told the Israeli officials.
"Sullivan said it would be bad for Israel and for the U.S.," a source with direct knowledge of the meeting told Axios.
The national security adviser reportedly warned Israel that it would bear responsibility if a famine is declared—but Sanders noted that as the top international funder of Israel's military, the Biden administration would also be to blame.
"The U.S. cannot partner with a country that is starving children," said the senator.
As Oxfam reported Wednesday, people in northern Gaza, where about 300,000 Palestinians are believed to be trapped, are now subsisting on 245 calories per day—less than a can of beans and about 12% of the recommended daily intake to prevent malnutrition.
For Gaza's population of 2.2 million people, Oxfam found that the food deliveries allowed into Gaza since October have allowed Palestinians there to consume an average of just 41% of the daily calories needed per person.
"Israel is making deliberate choices to starve civilians. Imagine what it is like, not only to be trying to survive on 245 calories day in, day out, but also having to watch your children or elderly relatives do the same. All whilst displaced, with little to no access to clean water or a toilet, knowing most medical support has gone and under the constant threat of drones and bomb," said Amitabh Behar, international executive director of Oxfam. "All countries need to immediately stop supplying arms to Israel and do all they can to secure an immediate and permanent cease-fire; only then can we stop this horrifying carnage for the 2.2 million people who have endured six months of suffering."
Israel has denied Gaza is facing starvation and an imminent famine, even as it has blocked food aid and fired on crowds of Palestinians waiting to receive relief deliveries.
On Wednesday, as international outrage grew over Israel's killing of seven aid workers with U.S.-based nonprofit World Central Kitchen as they were delivering food in Gaza, the New York Times reported that the U.S. State Department is currently pushing Congress to approve the sale of as many as 50 F-15 fighter jets to Israel, among other military support. The Biden administration has approved weapons transfers without congressional approval since October, directly aiding Israel in attacks that have killed at least 33,037 people.
Mexico Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Ecuador After 'Intolerable' Quito Embassy Raid
"This is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico," said Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Mexico on Friday night announced the suspension of diplomatic relations with Ecuador after police stormed the Mexican Embassy in Quito and kidnapped former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who was granted asylum after being convicted of what he claims are politically motivated corruption charges.
"Alicia Bárcena, our secretary of foreign affairs, has just informed me that police from Ecuador forcibly entered our embassy and detained the former vice president of that country who was a refugee and processing asylum due to the persecution and harassment he faces," Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on social media following the raid.
"This is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico, which is why I have instructed our chancellor to issue a statement regarding this authoritarian act, proceed legally, and immediately declare the suspension of diplomatic relations with the government of Ecuador," he added.
Bárcena said that "given the flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the injuries suffered by Mexican diplomatic personnel in Ecuador, Mexico announces the immediate breaking of diplomatic relations with Ecuador."
Mexican officials said multiple embassy staff members were injured during the raid. They also said that all Mexican diplomatic staff will immediately leave Ecuador, and that Mexico would appeal to the International Court of Justice to hold Ecuador accountable.
Roberto Canseco, head of chancellery and policy affairs at the embassy, told reporters that "what you have just seen is an outrage against international law and the inviolability of the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador."
"It is barbarism," he added. "It is impossible for them to violate the diplomatic premises as they have done."
Ecuador's government said that Glas—who served as vice president under former leftist President Rafael Correa from 2013-17—was a fugitive who has been "sentenced to imprisonment by the Ecuadorian justice system" and had been granted asylum "contrary to the conventional legal framework."
However, Ecuadorian attorney and political commentator Adrián Pérez Salazar toldAl Jazeera that "the fact that there was this grievance does not—at least under international law—justify the forceful breach of an embassy."
"International law is very clear that embassies are not to be touched, and regardless of whatever justifications the Ecuadorian government might have, it is a case where the end does not justify the means," Salazar added.
Numerous Latin American nations including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Panama, Uruguay, and Venezuela condemned the Ecuadorian raid.
"The action constitutes a clear violation of the American Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which, in Article 22, provides that the locations of a diplomatic mission are inviolable and can be accessed by agents of the receiving state only with the consent of the head of mission," the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "The measure carried out by the Ecuadorian government constitutes a serious precedent, and must be subject to strong repudiation, whatever the justification for its implementation."
Honduran President Xiomara Castro de Zelaya—who called the raid "an intolerable act for the international community"—said Saturday that she would convene a special emergency session of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States on Monday. Castro currently serves as CELAC's president pro tempore.
The Organization of American States General Secretariat issued a statement Saturday rejecting "any action that violates or puts at risk the inviolability of the premises of diplomatic missions and reiterates the obligation that all states have not to invoke norms of domestic law to justify non-compliance with their international obligations."
"In this context, it expresses solidarity with those who were victims of the inappropriate actions that affected the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador," the body added.
It's been a bad week for the inviolability of sovereign diplomatic spaces. Iran and Syria on Monday accused Israel of bombing the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, an attack that killed 16 people including senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders as well as Iranian and Syrian diplomats and other civilians.
Lawyers Sue Germany in Bid to Block Arms Exports to Israel
"There is reason to believe that these weapons are being used to commit grave violations of international law, such as the crime of genocide and war crimes."
The Berlin-based Lawyers' Collective on Friday sued the German government in an effort to stop weapons transfers to Israel, whose government and military are waging a genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany is the second-largest arms exporter to Israel, providing 30% of its imported weaponry from 2019-23. The top exporter, the United States, provided 69% of Israel's imported armaments during that same period.
"As there is reason to believe that these weapons are being used to commit grave violations of international law, such as the crime of genocide and war crimes, the applicants are hereby demanding that the German government protect their right to life," groups supporting the lawsuit—including the European Legal Support Center, Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, Law for Palestine, and Forensis—said in a statement.
Ahmed Abed, an attorney in the case who is representing Palestinian families, said during a Friday press conference in Berlin that "Germany has a constitutional responsibility to protect human life."
"The German government must stop its arms exports to Israel, as they are in violation of international law," he added. "The government cannot claim that it is not aware of this."
According to the Lawyers' Collective:
In 2023, the German government issued arms exports licenses to Israel worth €326.5 million, the majority of which were approved after October 7, 2023, a tenfold increase compared to 2022. The German government is currently supporting the Israeli army by approving the supply of 3,000 portable anti-tank weapons, 500,000 rounds of ammunition for machine guns, submachine guns, or other fully or semi-automatic firearms, as well as other military equipment, while in early 2024 Germany was preparing the authorization of 10,000 rounds of 120mm tank ammunition...
The arms deliveries and support provided by the Federal Government to Israel violate the Federal Republic's obligations under the War Weapons Control Act. The criteria for the approval of arms exports include, among other things, that the weapons are not used against Germany's obligations to international law.
The groups said that since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found in January that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza, they believe that "the delivery of weapons is contrary to these obligations."
In February, lawyers from some of the same groups involved in the new lawsuit sued senior German officials, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for "aiding and abetting" Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Last month, Nicaragua filed an ICJ lawsuit against Germany accusing its government of helping Israel commit genocide against Palestinians.
In addition to exporting hundreds of millions of euros worth of arms to Israel, Germany also suspended contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in response to unsubstantiated Israeli accusations that 12 of the agency's 13,000 workers in Gaza were involved in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel. This, as Palestinians starve to death.
The German government has been intensely criticized for its nearly unconditional support for Israel and for violently cracking down on pro-Palestinian protests. Numerous observers contend that Germany's actions are driven by historical guilt over the Holocaust, with some critics claiming the German government is weaponizing that guilt in order to demonize Palestinians and their defenders.
The new lawsuit came as the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday voted 28-6 with 13 abstentions in favor of a resolution demanding that Israel be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The United States and Germany were the two biggest countries to vote against the measure.
Palestinian and international human rights officials say at least 33,173 Palestinians—most of them women and children—have been killed by Israel's bombing, invasion, and siege of Gaza since October 7. More than 75,800 others have been wounded, while over 7,000 Gazans are missing and believed dead and buried beneath the rubble of the hundreds of thousands of homes and other structures damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks.
Youth Organizers Launch 'Protect Our Power' Campaign to Reelect the Squad
House progressives "have shifted the political narrative to center young people's leadership on the most pressing issues of our generation—from climate justice, labor rights, and abortion access, to anti-war foreign policy."
A coalition of youth organizers this week launched the "Protect Our Power" campaign to help reelect progressives in Congress who are under attack from pro-Israel lobbyists for their criticism of the U.S.-backed Israeli assault of the Gaza Strip.
"We are among the leaders of the most diverse and progressive generation in U.S. history," says a fact sheet from organizers. "We've met each other on Zoom calls, college campuses, campaigns, rallies, and parties. Spanning across a range of organizations and movements, we're united by our generation's common fight for peace, justice, a livable world, and a multiracial democracy."
"Over the past few years, we've experimented with a diverse set of tactics to grow our power—our involvement in elections being one of them," the organizers noted. "Today, we not only occupy the streets but Congress itself. With just a handful of insurgent electeds known as 'The Squad,' we have forced our generation's priorities to the forefront of American politics and reinspired young people to be involved in the political process."
"We're united by our generation's common fight for peace, justice, a livable world, and a multiracial democracy."
The Squad began with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)—younger progressive women of color all elected in 2018. The informal group has since expanded to include Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), and Summer Lee (D-Pa.).
Young progressives in the U.S. House of Representatives recently dubbed "Squad-adjacent" by Slate's Alexander Sammon include Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.).
Tlaib—the only Palestinian American in Congress—and Bush led the first Gaza cease-fire resolution effort in Congress, just days after the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, which has retaliated over the past six months by killing more than 33,000 Palestinians, injuring another 75,000, displacing most people in Gaza, and devastating civilian infrastructure.
While global condemnation of Israel grows—a genocide case against the country at the International Court of Justice continues to garner support—the dark money affiliate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) plans to spend $100 million trying to unseat congressional critics of the Israeli government this election cycle.
Reporting on those plans led to the recent creation of Reject AIPAC, a coalition of progressive organizations working to take on the group and its affiliated super political action committees (PACs). Members include Justice Democrats, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, IfNotNow, Working Families Party, Sunrise Movement, Democratic Socialists of America, and Gen-Z for Change.
Youth organizers from some of those same organizations are involved with the new Protect Our Power effort.
"The only thing that beats organized money is organized people," the young organizers argued. "Fortunately, that's what we know how to do best. Over the next few months, we'll build out a cohort of committed young leaders across the country and equip them with the training and tools to bring their own networks into this work."
"We'll work with these leaders to mobilize their networks to engage in a variety of tactics to defend the Squad," the organizers said. "For some groups, that might mean making texts, calls, and knocking on doors. For others, that could mean birddogging, targeted and disruptive demonstrations, oppo research, and much more. Then, once we win, we'll frame our victories as a governing mandate to shape the Democratic platform and agenda in the 2024 general election."
Before November, progressives targeted by pro-Israel groups are working to win their primaries. In Pennsylvania, voters are set to head to the polls on April 23. Lee's primary challenger is Bhavini Patel, who is taking money from rich right-wingers; a previous challenger, Laurie MacDonald, is now running a write-in campaign as a Republican.
The New York primary elections are on June 25. Bowman faces an AIPAC-backed Westchester County Executive George Latimer—who last week was accused of "straight-up genocide denial" for his comments on the mass slaughter in Gaza.
Bush and Omar are both set to face locally prominent primary challengers in August.
Those four incumbents "and the rest of the Squad have shifted the political narrative to center young people's leadership on the most pressing issues of our generation—from climate justice, labor rights, and abortion access, to anti-war foreign policy," the Protect Our Power coalition said on social media Thursday.
"Help us reelect the Squad and guarantee that our allies in Congress can continue to represent young people across this country," the group added. "Join us this Sunday for our kickoff."
The coalition is made up of "over 100 youth organizers across issues, including students from 30+ universities," according to spokesperson John Paul Mejia. "We're defending the Squad and our generation's political power from right-wing, billionaire-funded organizations that want to silence us."
I am forever indebted to the squad for holding the line & making sure congress pass the biggest federal climate bill \u2600\ufe0f\n\nWe need their moral clarity & conviction in the Congress. I am excited to join 100+ youth organizers to @protectourpwr against the right wing super PACs\u270a\ud83c\udffc— (@)
Among the campaign's supporters is climate activist Magnolia Mead, who warned this week that "our movements can't afford to lose their critical voices in Congress. Now and in the coming months we have a chance to throw down and protect them."
Kavi Shrestha, an Oregon-based leader with College Democrats of America, similarly stressed that "our generation cannot stand by as right-wing billionaires and PACs attack the representatives who stand up for our interests—Medicare for All, a habitable planet, and an immediate cease-fire."
"While they have money," said Shrestha, "we have numbers."





















