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Israeli forces are specifically brutalising Chris Smalls, the only Black member of the last Freedom Flotilla. And most union leaders and media outlets aren’t speaking about it.

“When he reached the Israeli prison, U.S. human rights defender Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals,” the coalition said on X.

Chris Smalls is an American labor organizer from New Jersey who founded and led the Amazon Labor Union (ALU).

“They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back,” the statement said.

The FFC highlighted that “when his lawyer met with him, Chris was surrounded by six members of Israel’s special police unit. This level of force was not used against other abducted activists.”

It decried the attack, saying: “We condemn this violence against Chris and demand accountability for the assault and discriminatory treatment he faced.”

On Monday, details emerged that not only was Smalls detained, but he was physically beaten by the IDF. He was the only Black member of the Freedom Flotilla on the Handala.

“The Freedom Flotilla Coalition confirms that upon arrival in Israeli custody, U.S. human rights defender, Christian Small, was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals,” wrote the Freedom Flotilla Coalition on Instagram. “They choked him and kicked him, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back”.

Still, despite Smalls having been profiled by every major media outlet in the U.S. when he successfully led the union drive at Amazon, not a single major media outlet has covered his violent detention by the IDF three days ago.

In 2022, The New York Times even ran a Style section profile on his fashion choices among more than a dozen pieces that they ran on his organizing efforts, but the paper has not said anything about the detention and beating of a high-profile labor activist at the hands of the IDF. Only three smaller left-leaning outlets, Zeteo, The Grio, and Jezebel covered it.

“This totally makes sense,” wrote University of New Brunswick Professor Nathan Kalman-Lamb on Bluesky. “A notable public figure in the US (Amazon labor organizer Christian Smalls) is illegally arrested by Israel and subjected to severe physical violence while on a hunger strike… and not one US media outlet of any type has decided that is news.”

Some union leaders have already begun to speak out about his detention.

"As a union, we are demanding the immediate release of Chris Smalls and all captured activists," said the 29,000-member California Faculty Association in a statement late Monday. "We further call for an immediate end to the engineered famine and deliberate starving of the people in Gaza, labor complicity with genocide, and all US military aid to Israel".

Other unions are expected to denounce the beating & detention of Smalls by the IDF.

However, his international union leader, Teamsters union President Sean O'Brien, has stayed silent on the detention of Smalls, who founded the Amazon Labor Union, which is now an affiliate of the Teamsters.

Instead, the Teamsters President Sean O'Brien took to social media to advertise his upcoming interview with fascist commentator Vivek Ramaswamy and his 3 million right-wing followers.

— Mike Elk, 29 July 2025

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On this day in 1962, Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists got the Manchester welcome they so richly deserved.

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This is so real

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In 2018, for example, 42% of Americans weren’t even aware that their country was still at war in Afghanistan, a place that the US military wouldn’t vacate for another three years.

[...]

As the war on terror expanded abroad, paradoxically, it faded further into the American background. It was Obama’s approach to the war on terror that sustained this paradox, as Samuel Moyn writes in his 2021 book, Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War. Months into office in 2009, the Obama administration launched the concept of a “global battlefield,” which removed any constraints on where the United States could project force. But, at the same, it cleaned up some of the less seemly elements of the war—forbidding torture, exiting Iraq—and also turned to remote-controlled drones, piloted by Americans in air-conditioned trailers in New Mexico, to do more of the fighting. The pilots were so distant, in fact, that the early drones were afflicted with latency, as the video signal had to travel from the skies of Africa, the Middle East, or Central Asia to a satellite and then back to the United States. The end result: fewer coffins sent back home, less bad press, and waning opposition to the war on terror. (Though the number of non-Americans killed by drones surged under Obama’s reign).

[...]

But the war on terror does continue. Many of the tools that the Bush administration introduced are still on the books, finding new uses, more than two decades later. The 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)—the broadly written and even more broadly interpreted piece of legislation that empowered George Bush to pursue the 9/11 attackers—has since been invoked in military operations in at least 22 countries, most recently by Joe Biden in a bombing campaign against Iran-aligned militia in Iraq. It’s not just the 2001 AUMF. In that same operation last year, Biden also cited the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, the 2002 resolution that enabled the Bush administration to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Let that sink in: More than a decade after “ending” the Iraq War, the US president still retains the right to bomb the country, without congressional debate, whenever he wants. What is that, if not a forever war? The war on terror also continues to haunt American society. National security reigns supreme. Democrats and Republicans have stretched the category “terrorist” to include more and more people. Last year, Manhattan’s District Attorney charged Luigi Mangione, who stands accused of killing a health insurance CEO, with an act of terrorism. Trump and his allies, once again in power, apply the category with abandon. Dealing drugs? Terrorism. Opposing deportation efforts? Terrorism.  Vandalizing Tesla cars and infrastructure? Terrorism. Protesting genocide? Terrorism (or, rather, “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” an entirely novel and seemingly infinite charge). And regime change, this time in Iran, has re-entered the political mainstream.

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Describing the woman as bafflingly at peace with the simple enjoyment of her hobby, confused sources confirmed Monday that a local fucking weirdo was really good at something that she wasn’t trying to capitalize on. “She’s so good at this it could be a secondary source of income, and yet she seems to have absolutely no interest in monetizing her skill, so what’s the point?” area man Brandon O’Brien said after watching his total oddball neighbor craft yet another dazzling wood sculpture that she would either display in her home or give away for free, even though it could fetch her $1,000, easy.

Full Story

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July 27, 2023 - A tripwire takes out a full squad of riot police who were on their way to evict a squat in Brest, France. [video]

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I am the most only on 2 hours sleep girl in thr world rn

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Trump visit be damned, someone still has to harvest veg for the Saturday morning stall at the community garden.

The basil smells particularly potent, and I learned the weird long squash thing is called a tromboncino!

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I am the most only on 2 hours sleep girl in thr world rn

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Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends. The one person he told was a ProPublica reporter.

This is such a wild story like holy shit dude

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In 2017, Russian FSB agents arrested six anti-fascists as they played airsoft in the woods. After several documented torture sessions that included protracted beatings and electrocution, FSB agents arrested four more anti-fascists and fabricated a terror cell called “the Network” to prosecute the ten anti-fascists.

Two of the arrestees cooperated with the state, signed confessions, and provided information to implicate the other arrestees. Of the remaining arrestees, six have been convicted and received very severe prison sentences while two await trial.

Details about the arrestees are available in English, German, Polish, and Russian on their support group’s website. Donations to help with their legal costs and to support their families can be made here. We have addresses for six of the eight remaining arrestees, who are accepting mail in Russian only (letters that are not in Russian will not be accepted)

Andrey Chernov Adress: SIZO-1, 440039 Russia, Penzenskaya obl., Penza, ulitsa Karakozova 30, Chernov Andrey Sergeevich, 1989 Ilya Shakurskiy Adress: SIZO-1, 440039 Russia, Penzenskaya obl., Penza, ulitsa Karakozova 30, Shakurskiy Ilya Alexandrovich, 1996

Viktor Filinkov Adress: SIZO-3 FSIN, 191123 Russia, St. Petersburg, ul. Shpalernaya 25, Filinkov Victor Sergeevich, 1994

Vasiliy Kuksov Adress: SIZO-1, 440039 Russia, Penzenskaya obl., Penza, ulitsa Karakozova 30, Vasiliy Alekseevich Kuksov, 1988

Dmitriy Pchelintsev Adress: 440042, Penza, ul. Molodogvardeyskaya, 9, PKU IK No. 4, PFRSI, Pchelintsev Dmitriy Dmitrievich, 1992

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In February 2023, European anti-fascists coordinated efforts to disrupt an annual gathering of neo-nazis held in Budapest, Hungary. Hungarian police coordinated with police agencies in other countries to track down and arrested anti-fascists they accuse of participating in the disruptions. Currently, 17 anti-fascists are being held in prisons in Hungary and elsewhere. Donations to support the Budapest arrestees can be made here. Budapest case prisoners that you can write directly to: Paul Müntnich; Leipzig Prison; Leinestraße 111; 04279 Leipzig (please note: do not send any newspaper articles – copies or originals – as Paul is not currently allowed to receive them!)

Nele Aschoff; Chemnitz Prison; Thalheimerstraße 29; 09125 Chemnitz

Luca Amelie Schaller; Bielefeld-Brackwede Prison; PO Box 14 04 40; 33625 Bielefeld

Emilie Dieckmann; Luckau-Duben Prison; Lehmkietenweg 1; 15926 Luckau OT Duben You can write to Maja , Zaid, Moritz, Clara, Paula, Nele, Paul, Luca, Emmi and Johann via email to: solibriefe-budapest@systemli.org. Please include the name you’d like to use + how you would like your message to be sent to the prisoner you’re writing to (email/physical mail/in-person).

You can write to Hanna via this address: Rote Hilfe Local Group Nuremberg c/o HANNA Eberhardshoferstraße 11 90429 Nuremberg You can write to Tobi via this address: Schwarzer Risse c/o Prisoner’s Post Tobias E. Gneisenaustr. 2a 10961 Berlin The support team for the Budapest arrestees have the following tips for writing directly to the prisoners: -No comments on the ongoing proceedings. -The investigation is ongoing, possibly also for criminal organization under Section 129 of the German Criminal Code. This means that the mail will be read and may end up in the investigation files, including certain contents and names. Decide consciously how much you want to reveal about yourself. You can also write to the prison under a different name (see above). -Otherwise, don’t be too hung up on what exactly you should write. The gesture alone will lift the spirits. Typed and scanned letters are acceptable. Prisoners also appreciate pictures/photos and recipes. -Please enclose stamps (€0.95) which we will forward to the prisoners and indicate in your letter to them how many stamps you have enclosed.

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Aliaksandr is an antifascist from Minsk, Belarus serving an 8-year prison sentence for participating in the October 2020 uprising against the Lukashenko regime. More info/how to help Aliaksandr: https://supportantifaprisoners.wordpress.com/antifascist-prisoners/

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Tamaz is an antifascist from Minsk, Belarus and a support of MTZ-RIPO FC. After participating in the uprising against the Lukashenko regime in 2020, Tamaz was sentenced to six years in prison. Write to Tamaz (in Belarusian or Russian): Tamaz Pipiya Penal colony No. 1. 211440, Navapolack, vulica Techničnaya 8 BELARUS

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Denys Matsola was defending his country from invasion by Russia when on April 4, 2022, he was captured by Russian forces. Since then, Denys has been held at Russian pretrial detention center SIZO No. 2, Kineshma, Ivanovo. Reports from released prisoners confirm that Denys has been starved by his captors and kept in solitary confinement for three years and counting – possibly due to their knowledge of Denys’ extensive work with human rights organizations and trade unions before the invasion.

You can sign this petition to ask Ukrainian authorities to prioritize the negotiation of Vladyslav’s release.