By Tara John and Muhammad Darwish, CNN


About 1,000 pride marchers walked defiantly through the city center as ultra-nationalist football hooligans and the far right attempted to block the march.

Bialystok, Poland (CNN) – A Polish city celebrated its first-ever LGBTQ equality march on Saturday, but it struck a starkly different tone to the joyous and hedonistic affairs associated with pride parades.

Ringed by riot police, around 1,000 pride marchers walked defiantly through the streets of the northeastern city of Bialystok as thousands of nationalist football "ultra" fans, far-right groups and others threw flash bombs, rocks and glass bottles.

As counter-protesters yelled "God, honor and motherland" and "Bialystok free of perverts," the pride marchers chanted "Poland free of fascists" in return. Police said about 4,000 people were involved in demonstrations against the march.

Bags of flour and other objects were thrown out of Communist-era housing blocks at the pride marchers, who were moving along a 3-kilometer (1.8 mile) route through the city center.

( According to Bialystok's police spokesman...Collapse )


SOURCE

Volodymyr Zelenskiy expected to command outright majority with 42% of the vote

Ukraine’s comedian-turned-president is on course for full domination of the country’s political scene after results from Sunday’s parliamentary elections indicated his newly founded Servant of the People party would win a majority of seats.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a political neophyte whose only previous experience was playing the president in a television sitcom also called Servant of the People, won presidential elections in April and called for early parliamentary elections soon after his inauguration.

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Eric Garner: no charges against white police officer

( Trigger warning: extreme racismCollapse )

Government falls apart after vice-chancellor resigns because of compromising secret video

Austria is heading for snap elections after the far-right vice-chancellor resigned over a video that appeared to show him promising public contracts to a woman posing as a Russian backer, in return for help in his election campaign.

The Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, said on Saturday that “enough was enough” and his conservative Austrian People’s party (ÖVP) was ending its 18-month-old coalition with the nationalist Freedom party (FPO). Elections would be held “as soon as possible”, Kurz said.

Kurz’s deputy, FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache, earlier told a press conference he had been the victim of a “targeted political assassination” aimed at breaking apart the coalition government, and insisted he had done nothing illegal.

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I also recommend this article if you want some more details about the video (and also the other articles with the "Austria" tag.)

Opinion: Austria's far-right show their true colors

The audacity and arrogance of Austria's far-right led to their premature undoing. DW's Barbara Wesel sees the FPÖ scandal as a warning for conservatives willing to enter alliances with the far-right.

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A tumultuous first week for the new Estonian government has resulted in the resignation of a right-wing minister after just a day in office.

The far-right EKRE party gained five cabinet positions after a strong electoral performance.

Party leader Mart Helme and his son both made alleged white power gestures at their swearing-in on Monday.

Marti Kuusik, minister of foreign trade and IT, resigned the next day over accusations of domestic violence.

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19 April 2019

A video has emerged of armed right-wing militia members stopping over 300 migrants as they cross the Mexico border into the US state of New Mexico.

The group calls itself the United Constitutional Patriots, and are seen in the Facebook clip standing over migrants sitting on the desert ground.

The group's actions have been condemned by civil liberties groups and New Mexico state officials.

The militia supports President Donald Trump's plan for a border wall.

The incident comes amid a spike in border crossings, despite White House efforts to stem the influx.

( What does the video show?...Collapse )

Leader of militia at US border boasted of training to kill Obama – FBI

22 April 2019

Larry Hopkins, arrested Friday on weapons charges, allegedly said his group also trained to assassinate Hillary Clinton and George Soros

The leader of an armed group that is stopping undocumented migrants who cross into the US from Mexico once boasted about training to assassinate Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and George Soros, an FBI agent said in court papers on Monday.

Larry Mitchell Hopkins, leader of the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), whose camouflage-wearing armed members claim to have helped US officials detain some 5,600 migrants in New Mexico’s desert in the last 60 days, was arrested on Friday on a weapons charge.

The UCP claims to have the support of US border patrol at a time when the agency is overwhelmed by record numbers of asylum seeking Central American families.

( Dressed in clothing that resembles military fatigues and carrying weapons...Collapse )

Leader of self-styled U.S. citizen border patrol attacked in jail

24 APRIL 2019

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. (Reuters) - The leader of an armed militia that spent two months rounding up migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border before he was arrested on federal weapons charges was hospitalized after a jailhouse attack, his lawyer and authorities said on Wednesday.

Larry Hopkins, 69, whose group of self-styled citizen border cops drew condemnation from civil liberties advocates, suffered broken ribs in the beating by fellow inmates on Tuesday at the Dona Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, according to his attorney, Kelly O’Connell.

Hopkins was arrested on Saturday by the FBI on an outstanding warrant accusing him of being a felon in illegal possession of firearms, a charge dating back to a 2017 search of his home.

( The detention facility...Collapse )

SOURCE 1 , SOURCE 2 , SOURCE 3

Up to 200 ex-soldiers and police facing Troubles investigations

Figure comes as rift opens between Northern Ireland Office and MoD over how to deal with historical accusations

( Trigger warning: racism, murder...Collapse )
OP: A big problem with the Good Friday Agreement which ended 'The Troubles', IMHO, is that there was never a vehicle for prosecuting those who, on both sides, committed awful human rights abuses (including murder). Much of that toxic legacy, and its origins, have never really been dealt with.

US threatens to veto UN resolution on rape as weapon of war, officials say

( Trigger warning: sexism, misogyny, transphobia...Collapse )
OP: The racism tag is there because many conflicts in which rape has been used as a weapon of war of late are not in 'the west'. So ofc Trumpers don't care...

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Fifty shades of white: the long fight against racism in romance novels

For decades, the world of romantic fiction has been divided by a heated debate about racism and diversity. Is there any hope of a happy ending?

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POST DOES CONTAIN ADULT CONTENT.

Last year, the Strand Bookstore in New York convened an all-star panel titled Let’s Woman-Splain Romance! The line to get in the door stretched down the block, and the room was thrumming with glee even before the panel started. This was not an audience that needed to be told that smart women read romance novels, or that the genre could be feminist. The authors speaking that night were all big names, including Beverly Jenkins, an iconic author of African American historical romance – who blew a kiss to the audience as she was introduced to whoops of delight – and two breakout stars of the previous year, Alisha Rai and Alyssa Cole.

( Trigger warning: racism under the cutCollapse )

OP note: The discussion mainly focuses on racism in the romance industry, but homophobia is mentioned in passing. I think it is also important to note that, this industry is: (1) racist racist racist, (2) homophobic and heteronormative, (3) transphobic, (4) ableist, (5) ageist. Yuck.

OP note 2: I wish the article hadn't referenced 50 Shades of Sh*t, which needs to disappear into oblivion IMO.