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- SXSW Responds To Texas Governor’s “Don’t Come Back” Comment After Musicians Drop Out Of Fest Protesting Military Ties Yahoo Entertainment
- SXSW ‘Fully Respects’ Artists Boycotting Festival Due to U.S. Army Sponsorship: ‘We Are Witnessing Unspeakable Tragedies’ and ‘Repressive Regimes’ Variety
Tag Archives: protesting
Banners Protesting Roman Polanski, Woody Allen Films Appear in Venice – Hollywood Reporter
- Banners Protesting Roman Polanski, Woody Allen Films Appear in Venice Hollywood Reporter
- Venice Film Festival | Activists & Celebrities Show Support For Iran In Venice Film Festival | N18V CNN-News18
- Flash Mob Takes Over Venice’s Red Carpet, Shows Solidarity With Iranian People: ‘It’s About Freedom for All’ Variety
- Jane Campion, Damien Chazelle & Zar Amir Ebrahimi Join Venice Flash Mob In Support Of Iran Protests Deadline
- Flash mob erupts on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival in support of Iranian protests Hot Air
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Amazon is unfazed by remote workers protesting its return-to-office mandate: ‘There’s more energy, collaboration, and connections happening’ – Fortune
- Amazon is unfazed by remote workers protesting its return-to-office mandate: ‘There’s more energy, collaboration, and connections happening’ Fortune
- Voices from the Amazon walkout: Why some employees are speaking out and pushing back GeekWire
- Hundreds of Amazon workers walk out at company’s Seattle, Washington headquarters WSWS
- Amazon Employees Walk Out to Protest Mandated Return to Office The Daily Beast
- Amazon’s Corporate Workers Walk Out to Protest Climate Inaction, Labor Issues Democracy Now!
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Indian farmers break down barricades to join protesting wrestlers – Al Jazeera English
- Indian farmers break down barricades to join protesting wrestlers Al Jazeera English
- Wrestlers’ protest turns violent in Delhi; Farmers break barricades set up by police to join stir Hindustan Times
- Farmers break through barricades to join wrestlers’ protest in Delhi; police say no untoward incident The Tribune India
- Dangal For Justice Turns Violent As Farmers Fume; Barricades Toppled While Cops-farmers Jostle India Today
- India’s female wrestlers threaten to hand back Olympic medals in harassment row The Guardian
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Taliban use water cannon on women protesting education order in Afghanistan
CNN
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A group of women took to the streets in the city of Herat in Afghanistan on Saturday, protesting against a Taliban order this week suspending all female students from attending university in the country.
Video footage circulating on social media showed Taliban officials using a water cannon to disperse the female protesters.
Girls could be seen running from the water cannon and chanting “cowards” at officials.
The Taliban’s announcement this week that it was suspending university education for female students was its latest step in an ongoing clampdown on the freedoms of Afghan women.
The move came despite the group promising when it returned to power last year that it would honor women’s rights.
It follows a similar move in March this year that barred girls from returning to secondary schools.
Male students in universities across the country have responded to the latest education ban by boycotting their exams in protest.
“Education is the duty of men and women,” read a statement from the Mirwais Nika Institute of Higher Education in Kandahar issued Saturday. “It is the fundamental right and secret of the country’s development and self-reliance.”
Students had first asked Taliban officials to reverse the ban but “no positive response” was given, the school said – adding that “dissatisfaction and unhappiness” fueled the boycott.
One university official told CNN that the students’ decision to boycott their admissions exams would lead to classes being put on hold.
The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 in a lightning takeover following the withdrawal of US troops, having previously ruled the country from 1996 until 2001 – when the US-led invasion forced the group from power.
Under its previous period of rule the group was notorious for its treatment of women as second-class citizens.
After seizing power last year, the group made numerous promises that it would protect the rights of women and girls.
But activists say the Taliban have reneged on their word and are steadily chipping away at women’s freedoms once again.
On Saturday, the group ordered all local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country to stop female employees from attending work. Non-compliance would result in the revoking of NGO licenses, an official ministry notice read.
A spokesman told CNN the move was due to the non-observation of Islamic dress rules and other laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate.
Afghan women can no longer work in most sectors.
Their travel rights have also been severely restricted and access to public spaces significantly curtailed. Women are also required to fully cover themselves in public – including their faces.
Iran riot police clash with students protesting young woman’s death
DUBAI, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Iranian security forces clashed with students at a prominent university in Tehran on Sunday, social and state media reported, in the latest sign of a deadly clampdown on nationwide protests that were ignited by the death in custody of a young woman.
The anti-government protests, which began at 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s funeral on Sept. 17 in the Kurdish town of Saqez, have spiralled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran’s authorities in years, with many calling for the end of more than four decades of Islamic clerical rule.
Activist Twitter account 1500tasvir, which has around 160,000 followers, posted several videos showing Sharif University, traditionally a hotbed of dissent, surrounded by dozens of riot police.
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One of the videos showed security forces firing teargas to drive the students off the campus and the sound of what appeared to be shooting at a distance could be heard.
Another video showed security forces chasing dozens of students trapped in the university’s underground parking. The account said dozens of students had been arrested.
Iranian state media described “reports of clashes” at the university and said the country’s science minister visited the campus to check on the situation.
Reuters could not independently verify the events at the university.
Students had been protesting at numerous universities on Sunday and demonstrations were held in several cities such as Tehran, Yazd, Kermanshah, Sanandaj, Shiraz and Mashhad, with participants chanting “independence, freedom, death to Khamenei,” earlier social media posts showed.
The protests have not abated despite a growing death toll and the crackdown by security forces using tear gas, clubs, and in some cases, according to videos on social media and rights groups, live ammunition.
Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, in a statement said that “so far 133 people had been killed across Iran”, including more than 40 people it said died in clashes last week in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.
Iranian authorities have not given a death toll, while saying many members of the security forces have been killed by “rioters and thugs backed by foreign foes”. Last week state television said 41 had died, including members of the security forces.
Iran’s utmost authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not commented on the nationwide protests, which have spread to Iran’s 31 provinces, with all layers of society, including ethnic and religious minorities, taking part.
Amini’s death and the crackdown have drawn international criticism of Iran’s rulers, who in turn accuse the United States and some European countries of exploiting the unrest to try to destabilise the Islamic Republic.
Iranian state media shared a video of pro-government students, who gathered at the Ferdowsi university in Mashhad, chanting “the Islamic Republic is our red line”.
Earlier on Sunday, Iranian lawmakers chanted “thank you, police” during a parliament session, in a show of support for a crackdown on widespread anti-government protests.
DEATH IN COMA
Amini was arrested on Sept. 13 in Tehran for “unsuitable attire” by the morality police who enforce the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. She died three days later in hospital after falling into a coma.
The lawyer for Amini’s family, Saleh Nikbakht, told the semi-official Etemadonline news website that “respectable doctors” believe she was hit in custody. Amini’s autopsy report and other medical details have not been released, but her father said he saw bruises on her leg and that other women detained with her said she was beaten.
Iran’s police authorities say Amini died of a heart attack and deny she was beaten to death in custody.
The country’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered an investigation into Amini’s death. He said last week that a forensic report would be presented in “coming days”.
Amnesty International on Friday reported that hundreds were injured and thousands have been arrested in the protests.
State media said at least 20 people were killed in the Zahedan clashes, blaming a separatist group from the Baluchi minority for starting a shootout in the city.
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Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Airport workers are striking and protesting across the country
Across the country, flight attendants and airport workers are responding to a hailstorm of workplace issues related to pay and staffing levels. Airline travel during the pandemic recovery has been marred by hundreds of thousands of canceled and delayed flights, attacks on flight attendants and widespread desperation among airport workers and travelers.
While neither the strike by airport concession workers nor the protests by flight attendants are expected to disrupt air travel this week, they’re the latest signs of upheaval in the nation’s transportation sector, coming just weeks after rail workers narrowly averted a strike fueled in large part by nationwide labor shortages.
In the airline industry, the airlines and air traffic controllers keep pointing at each other, to fend off blame for disruptions as demand for air travel has rebounded. Airlines in particular are struggling to attract workers in a red-hot labor market where less-grueling jobs are easier to come by, and federal data shows that airlines are responsible for the high rate of cancellations. The air transportation industry is still down 54,000 workers compared to February 2020.
Lucinda To is among the 1,000 workers on strike at San Francisco International, where she has worked for 20 years. She prepares buffets, washes dishes and clears tables at restaurants and the United Club lounge for weary travelers. It is draining work that has only gotten harder this year, she said. With inflation at 40-year-highs, To said she has to work 60 hours a week at two food service jobs at the airport for $16.99 an hour to afford a two-bedroom unit in the Bay Area. Her mortgage is $2,800 a month.
“Right now, on my wage, I make so little that I couldn’t even buy one meal at this airport, where hamburgers are $22,” To said. “I need to work two jobs to support my family, and I’m always working double shifts.”
To, 61, regularly spends the night in her car at the airport, to save on gasoline and pass the time between shifts that stretch late into the night and start early the next day.
The strike at San Francisco International is expected to shut down “virtually every food and beverage outlet within the airport,” Unite Here Local 2 union leaders said, and the union is urging travelers to bring their own food. The food service workers are employed by more than 30 companies at 84 food and beverage outlets.
“The San Francisco International Airport advises travelers that a labor action by airport food workers is impacting staffing [at] restaurants and lounges,” said Doug Yankel, a spokesperson for the airport. “Some food and beverage outlets are closed, while others remain open with limited hours and offerings.”
Additional protests among food service workers are being planned, union officials said.
Flight attendants for United and Southwest will demonstrate on Tuesday amid drawn-out contract negotiations over wages, staffing levels and rescheduling of workers when flights are delayed or canceled. The protests will happen outside airports in Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington and other cities.
At United, flight attendants said their lives have been upended by cancellations and delays, which routinely force them to spend hours, unpaid, waiting on the phone with the airline’s scheduling services. Some attendants slept on cots in airports this summer because hotels were overbooked.
The workers said the delays are caused by understaffing within the scheduling division.
Scott Pejas, a United flight attendant in Chicago and president of his local chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants, said disruptions to schedules have become the norm for flight attendants.
“We are mentally and physically exhausted, because instead of getting rest, we’re on hold, on the phone, trying to find out where we’re going to spend the night or layover,” Pejas said. “Flight attendants will land somewhere at 10 p.m. and have to wait until 1 a.m. on the phone to find out where they’re going to sleep. We’re not getting rest.”
Joshua Freed, a spokesperson for United, said the company is eager to reach a contract agreement with the union to address flight attendants’ concerns.
“We’ve worked hard to reduce wait times for flight attendants to talk to a crew scheduler, including more hiring and adding digital options for some items,” he added.
Lynn Montgomery, the president of TWU Local 556, which represents 18,000 Southwest flight attendants nationwide, said flight disruptions have become so routine that “workers are constantly working outside their normal schedule.”
“I’ve never seen flight attendants so disheartened,” said Montgomery, who has also worked as a Southwest flight attendant for 30 years. “They feel like they’ve given and given, and the company isn’t giving back to them. It’s way more investor-focused these days than employee-friendly.”
A spokesperson for Southwest said the airline encouraged employees to express their opinions.
“Informational picketing is common during contract negotiations, and we do not anticipate any disruption in service resulting from the demonstration planned by off-duty flight attendants,” the spokesperson said.
Why Alexa Nikolas’ Group Eat Predators Is Protesting Music Industry
A series of protests over the prevelance of sexual abuse in the entertainment industry have been staged in front of prominent music companies in recent weeks, and the efforts have been gaining attention on social media via actor Alexa Nikolas. A former cast member of the 2005-2008 Nickelodeon series “Zoey 101,” Nikolas’ megaphone includes more than 255,000 followers on Instagram as well as the public support of such activist groups as the 100 Percenters.
Her own organization is called Eat Predators, and its supporters have gathered in front of Warner Music Group’s Los Angeles headquarters on July 28; Red Light Management’s L.A. office on July 21; and Sony Music’s Culver City lot last week where about a dozen protesters held signs referencing artists affiliated with the label group who have been accused of sexual misconduct and abuse.
Though a small group, the Aug. 18 gathering Sony elicited honks from cars and stares from staffers and visitors. Video posted from the protest received more than 80,000 views in less than a day. On Aug. 25, she went live on Instagram from outside Nickelodeon offices in Burbank.
“The #MeToo movement totally skipped over the music industry by a long shot,” Nikolas tells Variety. “So I was like, what do you do about this systemic problem within the music industry?”
In 2021, Nikolas went public with allegations of sexual abuse against her ex-husband, Michael Milosh of the indie rock band Rhye. Milosh has strongly denied these claims; Nikolas withdrew the lawsuit without prejudice in May.
Today, Nikolas reflects, “It shouldn’t be a woman having to trail blaze, it should be on the industry itself. … Because a predator’s gonna come and go — there’s always going to be a predator. But if they don’t have a safe haven, then they can’t really perpetuate that abuse.”
Eat Predators expanded its focus beyond music with the decision to protest outside Nickelodeon. This followed the recent release of former Nickelodeon child star Jennette McCurdy’s memoir, in which McCurdy claims she was pressured by the company not to go public with allegations against someone she refers to only as “The Creator.”
Though Nikolas was reticent to expand Eat Predators’ efforts to television, she said having a 2-year-old daughter changed her view to one of responsibility.
Says Nikolas: “I looked at my daughter, I was like, ‘Alexa, this is children we’re talking about. We’re talking about your daughter’s future.’ Whatever career path she wants to go into, it’s my job as a mom to do all that I can to make these environments safer for her and take all the knowledge that I’ve personally learned from being in the industry and teach others about it.”
Nikolas says she hopes the music business can figure out a way to “come to an absolute concrete understanding and agreement that we as a society no longer protect predators and punish survivors.” She commends Beyoncé’s reported process of vetting her “Renaissance” collaborators for any sexual misconduct allegations as a step in the right direction that should be “everyday practice,” with the responsibility falling on the label rather than the artist.
The Russian cosmonauts who wore the colors of Ukraine’s flag to the ISS were blindsided by speculation that they were protesting the war, US astronaut says
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Russian cosmonauts sparked speculation after they wore yellow-and-blue spacesuits last month.
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They later said they wore those colors to represent their university, not to symbolize the Ukrainian flag.
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NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei said Tuesday they were “blindsided” by the attention they received.
The Russian cosmonauts who wore yellow and blue — the colors of Ukraine’s flag — to the International Space Station were “blindsided” by speculation that they were protesting the war, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei said Tuesday.
Vande Hei landed in Kazakhstan last week after spending 355 days in space.
In his first press conference since his return, Vande Hei described what life was like with his Russian colleagues on the ISS as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unfolded.
He specifically addressed the speculation surrounding the Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov after they were photographed wearing yellow-and-blue spacesuits upon their arrival on the ISS on March 18.
Yellow and blue are the colors of the Ukrainian flag, which many have been using to show support for the nation as it defends itself from Russia.
“All three of them happened to be associated with the same university, and I think they were kind of blindsided by it,” Vande Hei said of his Russian crewmates, CNN reported.
Artemyev, Matveev, and Korsakov were graduates of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, which has a blue and gold coat of arms.
Vande Hei said the Russians “had no idea that people would perceive that as having to do with Ukraine,” The Washington Post reported.
After photos of Artemyev, Matveev, and Korsakov wearing blue and yellow were published, multiple former NASA astronauts, including Scott Kelly and Terry Virts, speculated on social media that the Russians were showing support for Ukraine.
But Artemyev shut down the speculation on the Russian space agency’s Telegram channel several days later, saying: “There is no need to look for any hidden signs or symbols in our uniform,” the Associated Press reported.
“A color is simply a color. It is not in any way connected to Ukraine. Otherwise, we would have to recognize its rights to the yellow sun in the blue sky,” he said. “These days, even though we are in space, we are together with our president and our people!”
During the press conference, Vande Hei declined to comment on how his Russian crew members felt about the invasion of Ukraine.
“Those are things that I would prefer that they get to share directly rather than me sharing how they feel about it,” he said, CNN reported. He added that their discussions about the war were “very brief” because their main focus “was on our mission together.”
Vande Hei’s interview came several days after Russia’s space agency chief, Dimitry Rogozin, announced that Russia was suspending its cooperation on the ISS and its partnership with NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. The US, European Union, and Canada have all sanctioned Russia over the invasion.
Tensions between Russian and US space agencies have been on the rise after Rogozin criticized the US sanctions in aggressive social-media posts and argued on Twitter with the former US astronaut Mark Kelly.
But Vande Hei said that the camaraderie in space remained the same.
“They were, are, and will continue to be very dear friends of mine,” he said of his Russian colleagues, per CNN. “We supported each other throughout everything. And I never had any concerns about my ability to continue to work with them.”
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Truckers Protesting Covid Mandates Amass Outside the Capital
One group of truckers called the People’s Convoy that left California more than a week ago made it to the East Coast and was stationed on Saturday in Hagerstown, Md., about 70 miles northwest of the capital, converging with other drivers and their supporters — opening up the possibility that the convoy could move into Washington to hold protests against pandemic restrictions in the next few days.
It was not clear what the convoy’s exact travel plans were. A Facebook post on Saturday afternoon noted that a rally would be taking place on Saturday evening at the Hagerstown Speedway where the trucks were amassing, and several people commented that the group would be leaving on Sunday for the Capital Beltway, a highway that surrounds Washington.
There were reports on Saturday of at least a thousand trucks, recreational vehicles and cars gathered at the racetrack. One man who described himself as the lead trucker in the group told the crowd on Friday night that he would be driving his truck into the heart of the capital.
“D.C., the government, whomever, can claim that they have all this opposition for us waiting in D.C.,” the man said, according to Reuters. “But that flag on the back of my truck will go down to Constitution Avenue between the White House and the Washington Monument.”
Christopher Rodriguez, director of the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said the convoy had signaled that it was planning to stay outside the city. If the protesters did enter Washington, the authorities would be ready for them, he said.
“We’ve been planning for this for over a month now,” Mr. Rodriguez said, adding that National Guard members were stationed around the city with personnel, equipment and heavy vehicles.
“In the event we do see impact in the district, those personnel and equipment can help move traffic through with the support of the Metropolitan Police Department,” he said.
The People’s Convoy was one of several groups inspired by the Canadian protests against pandemic measures that disrupted the capital of Ottawa for three weeks. The American groups said they, too, would drive to Washington to lead a nonpartisan, grassroots protest of government Covid policies, but many appeared to be aligned with far-right organizations and activists.
Their demands have been undercut by the reality that many U.S. states have already started rolling back restrictions as virus cases and deaths have ebbed. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance in late February suggesting that 70 percent of Americans could stop wearing masks.
With the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, still fresh on the minds of many, officials had ramped up security around the Capitol in recent days ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday, erecting a fence around the Capitol, dispatching National Guard troops and positioning military vehicles and police cars at strategic locations on streets near Congress.
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Mask guidance. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released updated data that suggests 90 percent of the U.S. population are in a location with low or medium Covid-19 community levels and can now stop wearing masks.
Mr. Rodriguez confirmed that the fencing around the Capitol had since been taken down by federal authorities.
Another group called the Freedom Convoy that quit its journey to Washington last week after only five trucks remained claimed to have a permit to demonstrate at the Washington Monument on Tuesday afternoon before the president’s speech. City officials said only a few protesters showed up.
A National Guard spokesman confirmed this week that approximately 700 soldiers from the District of Columbia, New Jersey, Vermont and West Virginia National Guards were in the city and that their mission was scheduled to end at midnight on Monday.