Cai Wilkinson on recent LGBTQ developments in Russia. Her geographic focus is on the former Soviet Union, and she is currently working on projects about LGBT rights and human rights norms in Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
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The issue of LGBT rights in Russia first properly came to mainstream international attention in March 2012, when the St Petersburg Duma passed a law prohibiting “public acts aimed at the propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transgenderism amongst minors“. The law provoked an international outcry, including calls for tourists to boycott St Petersburg, sister-cities to consider cut off ties with Russia’s “window on Europe”, and condemnation from the EU, with the European Parliament passing a resolution noting that it was “gravely concerned by developments which restrict freedom of expression and assembly on the basis of misconceptions about homosexuality and transgenderism” and calling on Russia and other countries considering the adoption of similar legislation to “demonstrate, and ensure respect for, the principle of non-discrimination”. ... read full story / add a comment

Prisoner rights campaigner, Pauline Mellon with a piece on the imprisonment of Michael Campbell in Lithuania. It was written on 21st of June 2013 within hours of the writer attending a meeting meeting concerning Michael Campbell's case. Full text at link.

I would like to draw your attention to the very disturbing case of Irish citizen Michael Campbell. Michael is currently serving a twelve year prison sentence in Lithuania in what has been described as in inhumane and degrading conditions. Michael has been imprisoned since January 2008.

I met briefly today in Derry with a member of Michaels family, a fellow campaigner, a member of the European Parliament and a member of the Stormont Justice committee. The purpose of the meeting was to enlist support to add to the growing call to have Michael repatriated.

Michael is being held in Lukiškės Prison in the Lithuania town of Vilnius. A 2008 judgement of the European Court on Human Rights (ECHR) declared conditions at Lukiskes Remand Prison and the Rasu Prison to be violations of the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment as defined by European Convention on Human Rights. ... read full story / add a comment

A massive protest vote elected a centrist candidate with over 50% of the vote, crushing the conservatives. But will he be able to create a more open Iran? Yassamine Mather examines this question. Full text at link.

On Friday June 14, Iranians voted in large numbers for ayatollah Hassan Rowhani, a regime insider who was elected as Iran’s president with 50.71% of the vote. A centrist, not a ‘reformist’, he became the candidate of an unofficial coalition between ‘reformists’ and ‘centrists’ forged three days before the vote, after green leader and former president Mohammad Khatami asked the ‘reformist’ candidate, Mohammad Reza Aref, to withdraw from the elections. ... read full story / add a comment

Issue 52 of
Red Banner: a magazine of socialist ideas
is out now, €2 / £1.50 from bookshops or the address above. ... read full story / add a comment

A British intelligence report stated that Putin brought his own Russian cooked food and did not consume anything from Britain including water as he even brought his own water with him reportedly because he had concerns of being poisoned.

The British intelligence site stated that Putin threatened to send other secret Russian made weapons to Syria which would tip the balance of power even further in favour of Syria and re-iterated that these weapons will not be used against Israel on condition that Israel will not participate in the war within Syria and neighbouring countries.

During his recent visit to London and meeting with British Prime Minister Cameron, President Putin passed on a message to the US and France in response to their recent announcement that they will arm the [Al Nusrah] fighters in Syria.

As Russia is a sovereign nation dealing with the sovereign, legitimate government of Syria, some new arms which have never left Russia before [never previously deployed in Syria] will be delivered to the Syrian military.

The Patriot Missiles will be hit and repealed with S 300 SAM [already installed in Syria]. Putin also threatened to deliver the more advanced S400 anti-aircraft missiles far superior to the Patriot missiles and ranked as the World’s most advanced air defense system. ... read full story / add a comment

As protests continue in Turkey and the G8 meet in Northern Ireland, the right to peaceful assembly and free expression has never been more important, says Ruairí McKiernan (The Irish Examiner June 17th 2013)

... read full story / add a comment

Interesting and thought provoking post from the excellent zero hedge site making some interesting points about what being poor in the US entails and how the poor are hit disproportionately hard by the way our capitalist blood sucking institutions operate in today's society. Although the article is US centric, much of it also applies here in our society which has been largely colonised and diseased by american society and its "values" or lack therof ... read full story / add a comment

The latest edition of the Weekly Worker is now available online at http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/966

In this week's issue:

FROM FINANCE CAPITAL TO AUSTERITY MUDDLE
While economic growth is proving elusive, there are clear signs of stagnation and disintegration, argues Critique editor Hillel Ticktin

IRELAND: NO IFS, NO BUTS … A WOMAN’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE
Controversy over abortion continues to reverberate throughout Irish society, writes Anne McShane ... read full story / add a comment

This year's bilderberg attendee list is now available. I see Michael Noonan is not attending this year. I guess he's served his purpose! ... read full story / add a comment

Now the US mercenaries try to silence rt.com. Full text at link.

RT.com was temporarily disabled Monday for just under five hours by a DDoS attack. It coincided with RT's reporting on the trial of Bradley Manning and massive anti-government protests in Turkey, with coverage continuing uninterrupted on Twitter. The attack, claimed by anti-WikiLeaks hacker group AntiLeaks, also came as RT celebrated its status as the first international news agency to reach one billion views on YouTube. ... read full story / add a comment

1984 is here. Full text at link.

On May 1st, Cameron D’Ambrosio was skipping school when he posted some lyrics that included a vague reference to the Boston Marathon Bombing and called the Whitehouse a “federal house of horror.” Shortly after that he was arrested and charged with Communicating a Terrorist Threat, a felony that carries 20 years in prison.

Here are the lyrics to the song that Cameron posted:

“I’m not in reality, So when u see me (expletive) go insane and make the news, the paper, and the (expletive) federal house of horror known as the white house, Don’t (expletive) cry or be worried because all YOU people (expletive) caused this (expletive).

(Expletive) a boston bominb wait till u see the (expletive) I do, I’ma be famous rapping, and beat every murder charge that comes across me!” ... read full story / add a comment

It is no accident that the western world is facing a mental health crisis. Science and technology have brought civilisation to a bold new frontier but many of us are out of sync with the soul. An over emphasis on material growth hasn’t been balanced with the human need for meaning and the desire to be free. It has imprisoned our spirits and left many of us disconnected from our true selves, from each other, and from the natural world around us. ... read full story / add a comment

A seemingly minor issue to the Turkish government at least has sparked huge protests in Istanbul and in other cities in Turkey where plans to remove a city public park and replace it with a shopping mall has triggered in the space of 24 hours has triggered the protests. It seems everywhere people are fed up with the arrogance of politicians and their corrupt moneyed backers.

The Erdoğan government’s dictatorial approach to town planning has awakened a sleeping giant. In the space of 24 hours a simple protest over a park’s future has become a nationwide rebellion against authoritarian government, violent police and creeping Islamisation of a famously secular society. rabble’s men on the ground ... read full story / add a comment

Full text at link.

The following is an interview with Adel Omar, from the foreign bureau of the Syrian Communist Party-Bakdash. The interview was conducted following an international peace conference held in Istanbul and Antakya, Turkey, April 25-28 and was published in the May issue of the Communist Party of Turkey’s monthly publication. The translation from Turkish is by Liberation News.

Can you describe the position of the Syrian Communist Party toward the imperialist aggression against Syria?

First and foremost, as the Syrian Communist Party, we believe that the course of events in Syria is neither a revolution nor a civil war. It is very clear that what has been taking place in Syria has been in accordance with the imperialist plans. It is not possible for us to define a process where NATO has been involved as a revolution. Besides, it is not the case that different sectors of the people of Syria are fighting one another. On the contrary, our people are resisting the imperialist forces together.

It is true that the people of Syria have demands and needs that need to be met, but the way to achieve this is not through destroying everything that belongs to the state of Syria. At the moment, our country is under attack, and achieving unity among the people to defend our homeland is what needs to be done first. At this point, we think it is especially crucial for the government to respond to the demands and the needs of the people. In order to be able to establish a solid resistance front against the imperialist attack, we believe a top priority for the government is to provide for the basic needs of the people, including food and medicine. Only then can the struggle of the people against imperialism be unrelenting. ... read full story / add a comment

The latest edition of the Weekly Worker is now available online at www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/964

In this week's issue:

SWP: IN DECAY AND IN DENIAL
Peter Manson contrasts the speakers lists for Marxism 2013 and Counterfire

WOOLWICH: A PRETEXT FOR STATE REPRESSION
The murder of a soldier highlights the irrationality of bourgeois politics - but also the failure of the left, argues Paul Demarty ... read full story / add a comment

A few evenings ago, as the sky began to darken here in Kabul, Afghanistan, a small group of the Afghan Peace Volunteers, (APVs), gathered for an informal presentation about WikiLeaks, its chief editor Julian Assange, and its most prominent contributor, Bradley Manning. Basir Bita, a regular visitor to the APV household, began the evening’s discussion noting that June 1st will mark the beginning of Bradley Manning’s fourth year in prison. Two days later his trial will begin, a trial which could sadly result in his imprisonment for a life sentence. June 1st also begins an international week of support and solidarity, aimed at thanking Bradley Manning. #ThankManning! ... read full story / add a comment

The "rebels" continue to target journalists who report unfavourably on them. Full text at link.

Yara Abbas, a prominent female Syrian war reporter, was killed in the country’s west, Syrian officials confirmed. The country remains a dangerous place for journalists, especially as some rebel groups reportedly target them for assassination.

Abbas, 26, who worked for the privately-owned Damascus-based Al-Ikhbariyah TV (Syrian News Channel), was killed by sniper fire in a rebel attack not far from the Dabaa air base. The country’s Information Ministry offered no further details, but the pro-rebel Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that several members of her TV crew were also wounded in the attack.

... read full story / add a comment

Regardless of what the actual total of livestock contribution to global warming, it is part of the problem and we ignore it at our collective peril.
... read full story / add a comment

Well respected activist and contributor to indymedia was shot and injured by the Israeli military while filming a protest in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank in Palestine on good Friday. He is ok but sustained a nasty injury to his arm. ... read full story / add a comment

In this week's issue:

SECTARIAN LEFT: SVENGALIS OF LEFT UNITY BLOCK UNITY
Peter Manson examines two contrasting views of the new attempt to revive Labourism

ZIONIST MYTHS: HEBREW VERSUS JEWISH IDENTITY
This is an expanded version of the talk given by Moshé Machover at the March 3 London conference, ‘Reclaiming an Alternative Jewish Culture and Identity’

The latest edition of the Weekly Worker is now available online at http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/962 ... read full story / add a comment