Democracy

The call for help below comes from the Melbourne Street Medic Collective in the aftermath of the police pepper-spray attack on an anti-racist protest on July 18. The group has launched a crowd-funding appeal for badly needed first aid supplies. Visit their crowd-funding page for more information and to donate. ***

At least 30 people were killed and more than 100 injured on July 20, when ISIS suicide bomber from the self-styled Islamic State group attacked a cultural centre in the Kurdish town of Suruç, on the Turkish side of the border from Kobane.

The Israeli military may be flagging social media users as potential terrorists for using key words such as “boycott” or the Arabic name for Jerusalem “Al-Quds,” Israeli magazine +972 reported on July 15.

Loyalists rioted on July 13 in north Belfast, Irish Republican News said. The loyalists — largely anti-Catholic supporters of Britain's ongoing rule over the six counties in Ireland's north — drove a vehicle into residents in the predominantly Catholic and Irish nationalist Ardoyne area, seriously injuring a teenage girl.

The world’s largest social movement, La Via Campesina, has slammed the power of transnational companies for undermining democracy and stifling people’s voices on a global scale.

British unions slammed the ruling Conservative Party on July 15 for introducing a bill derided as the biggest attack on worker's rights in decades, TeleSUR English said that day. The government's new Trade Union Bill would impose a slew of new regulations on unions, including new voting thresholds for strikes. At least 50% of members would need to cast a ballot for a strike to move forward. Now, unions only need to secure a simple majority of votes for a strike to be valid.

Khader Adnan with friends and family following his release from Israeli detention. Israel released Palestinian activist Khader Adnan from jail on July 12, after holding him for more than a year without charge, TeleSUR English reported.

Private polling shows veteran left-wing Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, who takes a strong stand against austerity and has a history of backing supporting popular movements, ahead in the first round of voting, the New Statesman said on July 15. The New Statesman said the success of Corbyn's campaign surprised observers. Corbyn collected 40 nominations from local parties, just eight less than the bookmakers' favourite, Andy Burnham.

Ireland passed a new Gender Recognition Bill on July 15 that will allow transgender people to change their birth certificates and other documents, and achieve full legal recognition of their preferred gender. The bill is an elaboration on a previous one that allowed the legal changes, but only with a supporting statement from a doctor.

Child killed by Saudi bombing of Yemen. Twenty million people in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, are at risk of dying from hunger or thirst. That’s 80% of the country’s population, which, according to UN agencies, badly needs emergency supplies of food and water, along with fuel and medicine. This almost unimaginable crisis sounds like something out of a disaster movie. But the cause is not an earthquake or a tsunami.

The Bulgarian Prisoners Rights Association (BPRA) has made progress in its attempts to bring due process into Bulgaria's parole laws. Founded in 2012, the BPRA has been represented on a Ministry of Justice working group on prison reform since May. Their representative is Valio Ivanov, who was released from Sofia Central Prison in February after serving 22 years — 20 in solitary confinement. Ivanov succeeded in getting the working group to recommend changes in parole laws, BPRA chairperson Jock Palfreeman told Green Left Weekly.