CounterVortex weekly headlines
‘Black rain’ falls on Tehran amid US-Israeli strikes
United Nations officials said that US and Israeli airstrikes on fuel depots in Tehran have released large amounts of toxic pollutants, producing acidic “black rain” across parts of the capital. Officials from the World Health Organization warned that the burning of depots has released hydrocarbons, sulphur oxides, and nitrogen compounds into the atmosphere. The released pollutants have caused darkened skies in Tehran, prompting authorities to advise residents to remain indoors due to respiratory risks.
https://countervortex.org/blog/black-rain-falls-on-tehran-amid-us-israeli-strikes/
Iran urged to lift restrictions on internet access
Human Rights Watch urged authorities in Iran to lift restrictions on internet and communication services, citing concerns that civilians are being left unable to access potentially lifesaving information in the midst of the armed conflict with the US and Israel. Back in early January, amid widespread protests and severe government repression, the regime had similarly restricted access to internet services, with an estimated 92 million citizens cut off—virtually the entire population. This pattern of blocking reliable access to the internet has been criticized by activists as a form of digital isolation, with similar outages imposed in 2019 during protests and again in 2022 after anger erupted over the murder of Mahsa Amini.
https://countervortex.org/blog/iran-urged-to-lift-restrictions-on-internet-access/
UN report: Gaza genocide ‘spills into West Bank’
A group of UN experts warned that the genocide in Gaza is spilling into the West Bank as a wider war engulfs the region. The experts charge that Israeli policy is designed to coerce Palestinians to leave in both territories. The report also covered occupied East Jerusalem, finding: “Israel is accelerating measures that alter Jerusalem’s demographic composition, religious character and legal status, destroying the remnants of the pluralistic fabric that Jerusalem has represented for centuries, for Muslims, Christians and Jews… What is being done to this world symbol of spiritual coexistence and shared heritage is irreversible.”
https://countervortex.org/blog/gaza-genocide-spills-into-west-bank/
UN Commission on Syria: protect civil society
The UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria (COI) announced that it completed an in-country mission to Damascus as it prepares to brief the Council in Geneva. The commissioners said they were encouraged by the growth of Syrian civil society organizations, including groups returning from exile. Still, they noted continued barriers and fears, and urged conditions that would allow civil society to operate “without restriction.” There remain legal questions about whether and to what degree authorities will tolerate independent documentation, advocacy, and victim participation, which are needed elements for credible truth-seeking, reparations design, and institutional vetting.
https://countervortex.org/blog/un-commission-on-syria-protect-civil-society/
‘Politicized’ trial begins for Istanbul mayor
Istanbul mayor and Turkish opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu went on trial, accused of establishing an “İmamoğlu Criminal Organization for Profit” that operated parallel to and was concealed by his official duties. Critics of the trial say that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is politically influencing the proceedings as part of a broader judicial campaign intended to impede the ability of İmamoğlu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) to function as an effective opposition party, and to prevent İmamoğlu and other CHP officials from exercising their rights to political participation. The case is part of a mass trial involving more than 400 co-defendants, most of whom worked for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, which İmamoğlu has headed since 2019.
https://countervortex.org/blog/politicized-trial-begins-for-istanbul-mayor/
Mali: al-Qaeda franchise in new ‘war crime’
Human Rights Watch confirmed that a Qaeda-linked armed group summarily executed 10 long-haul truck drivers and two teenage apprentices in late January in southwestern Mali as part of the group’s attack on a fuel convoy, and deemed the acts “apparent war crimes.” Mali’s truck driver union staged a nationwide strike in response to the attack, demanding recovery of victims’ bodies to ensure their families can have proper funerals. The group believed responsible for the attack is Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), which describes itself as the official branch of al-Qaeda in Mali.
https://countervortex.org/blog/mali-al-qaeda-franchise-in-new-war-crime/
Anthropic sues Pentagon over ‘risk’ designation
Artificial intelligence company Anthropic sued the US Defense Department (”Department of War”) after the Department declared the company a “supply chain risk” and threat to national security. Anthropic maintains that it has no ties to any adversary and has gone to great lengths to prevent adversaries from using its technology. The company asserts that the designation is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedures Act, and actually constitutes retaliation against Anthropic for exercising its free speech rights in deciding how its technology will be used.
https://countervortex.org/blog/anthropic-sues-pentagon-over-risk-designation/
Audio:
Podcast: neither MAGA-fascism nor Islamic Republic
As Trump and Netanyahu rain death down on Iran, the ayatollah regime paints any would-be protesters as pawns of the “enemy” and promises deadly repression. This positions the civil opposition poorly for any resumption of the uprising that the regime drowned in blood mere weeks ago—and points to the paradoxical reality that Trump and the regime are de facto (at least) collaborators against the Iranian people. In Episode 318 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg repudiates both those who would rally around the reactionary and criminal regime in the name of opposing the US-Israeli aggression and those who would rally around Trump’s reckless and criminal war in the interest of opposing the regime. Instead, he offers statements from Iran’s anarchist and dissident-left opposition that continue to advance an uncompromising neither/nor position.
https://countervortex.org/blog/neither-maga-fascism-nor-islamic-republic/
From Global Ganja Report:
Woodstock icon ‘Country Joe’ McDonald passes on at 84
“Country Joe” McDonald of the band Country Joe & the Fish, immortalized as an icon of the 1960s counterculture through his proudly subversive performance at the Woodstock festival, died at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 84. In the defining moment of his career, he led a crowd of nearly half a million at the 1969 Upstate New York mega-concert in the “Fish Cheer” (spelling out the word FUCK) before launching into his satirical anti-war anthem “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag.”
https://globalganjareport.com/node/1994
San Francisco counterculture flame-keeper ‘Diamond’ Dave Whitaker passes on
“Diamond” Dave Whitaker, a local legend and longtime counterculture figure in San Francisco, died at the age of 88. Long known as the “mayor of Haight Street,” Whitaker was an organizer of underground poetry readings, pirate radio broadcasts, and countless other hippie-spirited events, keeping alive the flame of the city’s vibrant 1960s scene for new generations of youth.
https://globalganjareport.com/node/1995
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