Civil Liberties On Trial In Occupy Wall St. Case

The last trial of Occupy Wall Street protesters opened on Monday, testing the country’s commitment to protecting civil liberties.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese
Cecily McMillan

In New York City, a major test of the nation’s commitment to civil liberties is playing out as Cecily McMillan, 25, a New School student, faces felony charges in a trial that started on Monday. McMillan, the last of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators to face trial, is accused of assaulting a police officer -- a charge that carries the possibility

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Protecting Human Rights Activists? There’s An App For That (Video)

Well-equipped smartphones allow activists to immediately document human rights abuses in real time, but the information can be vulnerable if a device falls into the wrong hands.

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke

From instances of police brutality and rape, to uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, human rights activists have been searching for a way to document human rights abuses for years. When photo and video capabilities were added to mobile phones, activists thought they had finally secured the means to document such abuse. “New technologies

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West Seeks To Infuse Politcally Unstable Ukraine With Cash

Already struggling under drastic changes to its political structure, Ukraine is now also forced to grapple with tougher Russian rhetoric. The U.S. and IMF have offered aid, but will it be enough to stave off economic collapse?

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese
Catherine Ashton, Yulia Tymoshenko

Ukraine’s internal political structure changed dramatically last week. The release of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the announcement of early presidential elections and the impeachment of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych have forced Ukraine to search for stability in wildly shifting sands. Difficulties in forming a new majority

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Fracking Opponents Create Sandstorm In Minnesota

If the Sandman’s job, as legend has it, is to put us to sleep, a growing movement in Minnesota and Wisconsin has taken up the opposite task: wiping the sleep from our eyes.

Ken Butigan
By Ken Butigan
Anti-frac sand activist Steve Clemens being arrested

First it was tea. Then it was salt. Now it’s sand. Successful nonviolent action often hinges on fusing the transcendent with the everyday. While it frames the struggle in visionary terms like “justice,” it does so in ways that we can touch, feel, see and experience up close. So, for example, the civil rights movement’s lunch counter sit-ins in

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Plowshares Sentencing Shows US Government Afraid Of Peace Activists

“There is an alternative to nuclear weapons — common sense… If you resist nuclear weapons, you are upholding the law… The need to expose crimes pushed us to our action… To remain in prison for the rest of my life would be the greatest honor this court could bestow on me.”

Jim Haber
By Jim Haber
Michael Walli, Sr. Megan Rice and Greg Boertje-Obed.

Outside the courthouse in Knoxville, Tenn. where three anti-nuclear activists were severely sentenced on February 18, Michelle Boertje-Obed, the wife of one of the three Transform Now Plowshares members, encouraged everyone to see Judge Amul Thapar’s ruling in a positive light. Despite her husband Greg having just received over 5 years in prison

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Activists: Syria Will Let Food Into Rebel Town

The deal accepted by the town of Moadamiyeh is one of a number of short-lived, local truces reached between opposition-held towns and government forces in recent months.

Associated Press
By Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Residents of a blockaded rebel-held town near Damascus raised the flag used by the government of President Bashar Assad in a deal that sees them accept symbolic humiliation in exchange for food, activists said on Thursday. The deal accepted by the town of Moadamiyeh is one of a number of short-lived, local truces reached between

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