For a third time over the last week the Met police have made arrests outside Woolwich Crown Court of people holding signs communicating the principle of jury equity. The group of six people arrested on 29 April were sitting peacefully displaying the signs:

Jurors have an absolute right to acquit according to their conscience.

And:

Even without legal defence jurors can still acquit on conscience.

Meanwhile inside Woolwich Crown Court, there has been a shocking development in the Filton case. Five of the six defence barristers have left the trial following judicial rulings which cannot be reported until the end of the trial.

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said today:

In recent years we have seen judicial rulings that banned climate campaigners from saying the words ‘fuel poverty’ and ‘climate change’ in their trials.

Today we understand a judicial ruling has been given that goes even further, and as a response the legal professionals representing five of the six defendants on trial in the Filton case have no choice but to leave the trial because they have been left with literally nothing they can say in closing arguments.

We should all be alarmed to hear that the legal process has been so corrupted that, today we have lawyers in the UK walking away from a trial because it is impossible for them to do their job of defending their clients.

The trial of the first six defendants from the group known as the ‘Filton24’ has reached the stage of closing arguments. Five of the six defendants will now be giving their own closing speeches as they have no legal representation.

In her closing address to the jury today, defendant Charlotte Head said:

Sadly, despite how unbelievably kind and smart and wise my barristers are, after some decisions made by the court, I no longer feel like they are permitted to represent me in a way that does us all justice. So I’ve had to represent myself.

I recently found out that it wasn’t until 1898 that a person who was charged with a crime in the UK could speak to the jury under oath during their trial…

Under those conditions, me and my co-defendants would have had to sit quietly in the dock and await our fate, unable to tell you in our own words who we were and why we were sitting before you.

I was unsurprised to learn that, in 1898, when the first person was allowed to answer the charges they faced from the witness box and testify to their own defence, many people, including prosecutors and judges, were worried about what would happen.

Not because they feared that the defendants would lie but because they feared the jury sympathising more with normal people than the elites of the legal profession.

A long time has passed since then but it might be said that some prosecutors and judges still share that fear. A fear of the jury’s ability to be compassionate, to question the motives and integrity of the state, and to act as a barrier to the outcomes they want to achieve – namely to convict defendants…

They are frightened that you will listen to us, the defendants, when we talk to you and afraid of the power you hold as a jury. It’s entirely possible you may be one of the last juries to get to make decisions in a case like this before even that right is taken away from ordinary people.

17 arrests outside Woolwich Crown Court

Today’s arrests outside Woolwich Crown Court bring the total number of people arrested outside the court this week to 17.

Today’s arrests were made under the charge of Aggravated Trespass whereas the previous 11 arrests related to an alleged breach of Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.

It is understood that the change in the police’s approach to their powers of arrest may be because neither today’s, nor the two previous actions outside Woolwich Crown Court were in breach of the terms stated by the police as justification for the Section 14 being in place, namely, to prevent noisy demonstrations taking place within a one mile radius of the court.

This week’s sign-holding actions, as with all Defend Our Juries sign-holding actions, were held as a silent vigil. The grounds for arrest this week appear to be a cynical attempt to bypass the terms of the High Court ruling in Warner.

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By The Canary

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The Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed that disabled Universal Credit claimants going back into work will still face benefit reassessments. This is despite the ‘Right to Try’ scheme promising that reentering work will not trigger reassessment.

The DWP made a huge fanfare announcing the ‘landmark legislation’ that would mean:

Entering employment will not automatically trigger benefit reassessment for claimants on new-style Employment and Support Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, and Universal Credit health element.

This is supposed to alleviate disabled people’s fear that starting work would mean they lose their benefits. While PIP is not an out-of work benefit, starting a job could count as a change of circumstance. It could essentially signal, in the DWP’s eyes at least, that your disability has miraculously gotten better.

The Right to Try policy would, they claim, mean this doesn’t happen. It would basically just be a line inserted into different change of circumstances legislation, which says:

Doing work for payment or in expectation of payment, or doing voluntary work, is not a relevant change of circumstances.

However, as Benefits and Work discovered, this isn’t true. In a memo to DWP staff, the department explained that nothing is actually changing:

Previous guidance and policy for WCA reassessment and PIP award review does not refer to work, or voluntary work, as being a reason in itself to trigger a reassessment or award review.

DWP demonising disabled people even further

So what’s the fucking point? If that rule isn’t changing, it means the reassessment policy isn’t actually changing.

The memo continued to say that while, by starting work, the claimant won’t trigger a review automatically, it will if a DWP decisionmaker decides they want to do one anyway.

It continued:

The Secretary of State retains discretion to reassess entitlement to one of these benefits for other reasons (for example, a change in condition, improvement in functional ability or suspected fraud) which could be indicated, for example, by undertaking work of a particular nature.

So basically, if the type of work a disabled person chooses to do causes a not-medically-trained assessor to question their disability, they can be reassessed.

In theory, the only reason a reassessment should be triggered under this new legislation is if the DWP suspected fraud. But when they’re the ones deciding who’s committing fraud or not, it’s hard to see how this would reassure anyone.

This is particularly troubling in the current climate where the DWP is trying to prove many conditions such as ADHD, autism and anxiety are over-diagnosed. Just this week, the shady Tony Blair Institute have got the shitrags frothing with policy that would mean those conditions would be classed as ‘non-work-limiting’.

Disabled people are damned if they do and damned if they don’t – and that’s the whole point

A further memo from the DWP to decisionmakers has fully confirmed that this will be the case.

It told Universal Credit staff:

When notified that a claimant is working, DMs [decisionmakers] should continue to consider whether the nature of the work undertaken might indicate that a change in functional ability has occurred. Where this is the case, a determination can be made that a further WCA should be carried out in order to consider whether the claimant continues to have LCW or LCWRA.

For PIP claimants, while they don’t have to report a new job to the DWP, they do technically have to report anything that could mean their entitlement changes.

The example given in the memo is someone who says they can’t travel without assistance but has gotten a job that requires frequent travel. What’s missing here is that the decisionmakers don’t know if the person will have assistance to travel – they’re just assuming they won’t.

However, with the way the DWP is also absolutely decimating Access to Work, that person may have to travel unaided. Not only is Access to Work being cut, but they also have a horrific backlog of over 66,000 people waiting. On top of that, the department confirmed there will be no extra provision for the increased demand that will come from how many more disabled people will be forced into work.

It’s absolute absurd that, whilst the DWP is trying to force so many disabled people into work, they are the ones making it harder with their actions. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that the department doesn’t give a fuck about actually supporting disabled people into work. They just want the public to think they are, so it’s easier to turn the public against us and make it easier to cut benefits.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

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The US Treasury chief admitted weeks before the war that Washington manufactured a dollar shortage to instigate unrest in Iran

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Chris Rabb's consistency on Palestine has resonated with voters in the country's bluest district, who have felt betrayed by the Democrats' approach to Israel and foreign policy.

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Alliance Party member John Blair has introduced a Stormont bill to ban the “cruel and inhumane” practice of fox hunting in the Six Counties.

Alliance also announced the move on Facebook.

Countryside Alliance Ireland then emitted its usual gibberish in response.

The group claims to act as “the voice of rural communities”, yet fails to actually represent the views of people in those areas. The League Against Cruel Sports reported poll results that showed more than 70% of people in NI want fox hunting to be banned.

These figures are comparatively consistent in urban and rural areas of NI.

Fox hunting: Rural voters back ban on cruel ‘sport’

This mirrors similar figures in the south of Ireland. After a poll showed 68% of rural voters wanted a ban there, Ruairí Ó Leocháin of Stand With Badgers, said:

Rural Ireland is tired of being falsely portrayed as supportive of this violence and rejects the suffering it inflicts on wildlife and the countryside alike.

The Countryside Alliance Ireland claims to “protect and celebrate the beauty and vitality of Ireland’s countryside”.

Leocháin cited the “routine destruction” caused by the barbaric so-called sport and the “displacement of protected wildlife”.

A previous Stormont vote on the issue failed in 2021 by a narrow margin of 45 votes to 38. That was partly the result of Sinn Féin whipping its MLAs to vote against it.

On this occasion that will be less likely. Last week the party voted at its annual Ard Fheis (conference) to back a ban on fox hunting. The vote took place at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall and will dictate party policy on both sides of the border.

Sinn Féin delegates at conference back ban too

Delegates rejected motion 28, which cynically tried to use Irish mythology to garner support for ripping defenceless foxes to shreds. It said:

…hunting in Ireland dates back thousands of years with Irish Mythology and examples such as Cu Chulainn the “Hound of Ulster” being defined by their hunting roles in Celtic lore.

Réada Cronin TD scoffed at this nonsense. She said:

I never expected to find Cú Chulainn on the clár [agenda] of our Ard Fheis. Cú Chulainn never put on a red coat and tally hoed after a fox on horseback with hounds.

That mindset, that entitlement was never part of our culture. Sinn Féin would never be the party that introduced fox hunting to Ireland but we must be the party to end it and send it back to where it belongs in our colonial past.

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Ann Graves TD took a similar line, quoting Oscar Wilde’s observation of:

The English country gentleman galloping after a fox: the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

They backed motion 29, which described the fox hunting for leisure using dogs as:

unavoidably cruel and by necessity inflicts terror, exhaustion, irrevocable injury, and death on the foxes involved.

Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh TD called out the absurdity of describing the maiming and murdering of an animal as ‘sport’.

It is not a sport when the other team doesn’t know it’s playing.

Running for your life and enduring exhaustion and terror is indeed a very long way from play. Following the recent events at Stormont and the Waterfront, it will hopefully soon be a form of sadistic entertainment no longer available to these thugs on horseback.

Featured image via Pixabay/ Camera-man

By Robert Freeman

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MANILA – Indigenous rights activist Raven Desposado has formally asked the Commission on Human Rights on April 28, 2026  to launch an investigation into the coercion and harassment he experienced while he was organizing the 42nd People’s Cordillera Day in Tadian, Mountain Province.

Desposado is coordinator for Tignayan dagiti Agtutubo ti Kordilyera para iti Demokrasya ken Rang-ay (Takder), an organization of Indigenous Cordillera youth and advocates based in the National Capital Region (NCR).

In his affidavit, Desposado identified military agents Kenjie Lecciones and Private First Class Joebert B. Becares, who pressured him to “surrender” and enlist in “Buklod Kapayapaan” – a group linked to the government’s counterinsurgency body, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

“This case of surveillance and harassment is a violation of my right to life, liberty, and security. I am worrying for my safety and mental health after the incident,” Desposado wrote in the affidavit.

At around 7 a.m. on April 23, 2026, Desposado was approached by Lecciones and Becares while he was waiting at the terminal in Poblacion, Bontoc. The two invited him to their dorm to talk, offering to “clear” his name, and urging him to “surrender so he could live peacefully.”

The two agents repeatedly tried to obtain his contact details and took his photo without consent. Desposado asked them to delete the images, but he discovered that they had already taken earlier photos of him even before approaching him. Shortly after, a white pickup truck with red plates arrived. Onboard were three unidentified individuals who spoke with the agents.

This prompted Desposado to immediately flee the scene and report back to the office of Cordillera People’s Alliance – Mountain Province. In response, Takder issued a statement, affirming that Desposado is a community organizer.

“His convictions are rooted in service, organizing, and the defense of Indigenous peoples’ rights,” the statement read. “This incident is not isolated but forms part of a series of human rights violations and a long-standing systematic pattern of attacks against activists—beginning with surveillance and vilification, escalating to harassment, threats, the filing of fabricated charges, and, at its worst, abduction and killings.”

Desposado served as instructor and resource speaker on Indigenous rights in various communities and schools. Prior to his work with Takder, Desposado was a student leader, having served as president of the PUP Sentral na Konseho ng Mag-aaral in 2011 and secretary general of the university chapter of Sandigan ng mga Mag-aaral para sa Sambayanan (Samasa) .

Samasa PUP condemned the harassment and surveillance of Desposado. “The People’s Cordillera Day is a legitimate and democratic gathering that should never be a target of fascism. We hold the NTF-ELCAC directly accountable for any harm that may be inflicted on Raven,” the group said.

Braving the challenges, organizers commemorated the Peoples’ Cordillera Day in Metro Manila, Baguio, Benguet, Mt. Province, Abra, Kalinga, and Apayao. It is an annual community-centered initiative of the Cordillera people and advocates to assert their fight for ancestral lands, environmental protection, human rights, and livelihood. (RVO)

The post Indigenous rights activist seeks probe over military harassment, coercion appeared first on Bulatlat.

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New US CBS News boss and Israel fanatic Bari Weiss has removed the channel’s London bureau chief Claire Day for not being sufficiently pro-Israel. Day had clashed with Weiss over her coverage of Israel’s Gaza genocide and its US-backed war on Iran.

Like a ‘Hamas cell’

Weiss was installed to run CBS, despite a lack of experience, by its new Zionist owners – apparently because of her commitment to Israel. She promptly appointed or promoted pro-Israel presenters and staff. The excuse for the move on Day was a complaint from a freelance, evidently pro-Israel London cameraman that Day was running the bureau like a “Hamas cell”. Day was cleared of any bias but removed anyway.

As one insider told US press:

For Bari and Tom to discard her because she failed some undefined purity test is appalling.

Weiss has replaced Day with Shayndi Raice, a former Wall Street Journal Middle East correspondent based in Israel. Raice reportedly has no prior television or large-scale management experience. She takes up the post from 11 May 2026.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Featured image via CBS News

By Skwawkbox

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Economist Michael Hudson warned that the US economy is built on a Ponzi scheme, which depends on continuing to pour money into a bloated, bubbly financial system based on unsustainable speculation, not industrial production. || Geopolitical Economy Report || Please consider supporting us at https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/Support Subscribe to our newsletter: https://geopoliticaleconomy.report/ Join our community on Patreon: https://patreon.com/GeopoliticalEconomy

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The Congressional Progressive Caucus on Wednesday unveiled a sweeping affordability agenda aimed at combating a cost-of-living crisis that President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have supercharged with tariffs, a war of choice in Iran, and deep cuts to safety-net programs.

The CPC's New Affordability Agenda comprises new and previously introduced legislation designed to lower the cost of housing, groceries, childcare, prescription drugs, and more. The caucus presented its slate of policy proposals—which are popular with American voters across the political spectrum—as a positive agenda around which "every single Democrat should be able to unite" heading into the pivotal 2026 midterms and beyond.

“Affordability is not a ‘hoax,'" said CPC Chair Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), referring to Trump's efforts to dismiss mounting concerns about cost increases under his administration as consumer sentiment plunges to all-time lows and affordability continues to top Americans' list of concerns.

"It also has to be more than just a slogan,” Casar added. “The New Affordability Agenda shows how Democrats can actually make things cheaper for working people by taking on special interests who are ripping people off. These are the kind of bold, populist ideas Democrats should talk about in 2026 and pass in 2027. We are glad that many of these ideas already have support across the Democratic caucus, and we look forward to working to get them actually passed as soon as possible.”

Endorsed by a broad coalition of labor unions, advocacy groups, and policy experts, the CPC agenda includes 10 planks, each with corresponding legislation.

The first six planks pertain to lowering the costs of essentials: medicine, groceries, housing, utilities, childcare, and gas.

On prescription drugs, for instance, the agenda calls for passage of the Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act, which would establish a federal program to directly manufacture generic medications and offer them to consumers at an affordable price.

On childcare, the CPC is urging passage of a bill led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) that would ensure "every family in every community has access to high-quality, affordable childcare and early learning opportunities by establishing a network of federally supported, locally administered childcare options."

"In 2026, Democrats cannot politely nibble around the edges when taking on a rigged economic system,” Warren said Wednesday. “Americans want leaders who will fight for bold policies like universal childcare and affordable housing so that we can build an economy for everyone. The New Affordability Agenda is about fighting for the big structural change we need to put working people first."

The CPC agenda also calls for ending AI price gouging, guaranteeing paid vacation to every full-time worker, raising federal overtime pay, and capping super PAC spending on elections.

“At a time when 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and billionaires and large corporations have never had it so good, the Congressional Progressive Caucus is putting forward bold ideas this country desperately needs,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement on Wednesday. “This agenda says that in the richest nation on Earth, we can create an economy that works for every man, woman, and child, and not just a handful of billionaires."

"Yes, we can lower the cost of prescription drugs," said Sanders. "Yes, we can build millions of units of low-income and affordable housing. Yes, we can provide universal, high-quality, affordable childcare in every community. And yes, we can create a vibrant democracy by abolishing super PACs and making sure billionaires can no longer buy elections.”

New polling conducted by Data for Progress indicates that all of the individual policies championed by the CPC are broadly popular with the American electorate.

"Every policy tested earns majority support from at least 3 in 5 voters," the polling outfit found. "Requiring two weeks of paid time off for all full-time workers and restricting private utility companies from passing unreasonable costs on to customers are the most popular policies on the list—each earning support from 79% of voters."

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), who heads the CPC's Ending Corporate Greed Task Force, said Wednesday that Democrats "need to be listening deeply and fighting hard for Americans."

"They have been loud and clear that everything is too damn expensive, and we must respond," said Balint. "This New Affordability Agenda is a strong slate of policy proposals that will help bring down costs. From increasing pay and taking on the corporations that have rigged our economy, to lowering everyday costs on housing, groceries, and childcare, this concrete approach reflects that we understand the scope of the problems and we are ready to take real action."

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Israeli settler violence since October 2023 has systematically rendered farmland inaccessible across the West Bank. The state-backed policy is destroying harvests, driving up the price of produce, and dismantling an entire way of life.

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AN AFGHANISTAN women’s refugee team has been granted eligibility for international competitions, some five years after national team players fled their country’s Taliban rule.

The Fifa Council agreed on Tuesday to amend its regulations to recognise the refugee team, which plays under the name Afghan Women United.

While it is too late for the refugee team to try to qualify for the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil, it could participate in qualification for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

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In a rare success story for Six Counties’ legislators, the Northern Ireland Assembly has passed a Sign Language Bill that in several respects goes beyond its equivalents in the Republic of Ireland and Britain.

It will be the first bill in the islands mandating the provision of sign language classes for all D/deaf children and young people up to the age of 25, along with their immediate family members.

These will be free of charge. People aged 25, or who have become deaf, will also have classes available to them, though it seems likely a small fee will be charged in these cases.

The bill is also the first to officially recognise two signed languages, British Sign Language (BSL) and Irish Sign Language (ISL).

All public bodies are required to take “all reasonable steps” to ensure D/deaf people are able to access services in their language of choice. This will include provision of interpreters or “web-based or technological means for on-site or remote interaction”.

The bill goes beyond requiring this kind of access as a “reasonable adjustment” for a disability. Instead, it is considered a linguistic right for a cultural minority.

Deaf people’s culture respected in law

The cost of fulfilling the bill’s requirements is likely to be about £3 million per year. The main justification for the bill is clearly that treating D/deaf people as equal citizens is simply the right thing to do.

However, even for those caring purely about bean counting, it’s hard to imagine the spending won’t be easily recouped by letting D/deaf communities participate fully in society.

This is the case with all similar social spending. Reactionary governments try to pinch every penny as if spending it on disabled people would be an enormous waste. In reality, enabling people to fulfil their potential more than pays for itself.

The bill’s passage was hailed by the British Deaf Association (BDA), which described the legislation as a “landmark step”.

The BDA continued:

The legislation marks a significant milestone not only for Northern Ireland, but for the wider UK and Ireland, reinforcing the importance of sign languages as living languages with their own culture, heritage and communities.

Caroline Doherty, Northern Ireland manager at the charity, said:

This is a hugely significant moment for Deaf communities in Northern Ireland. The recognition of both BSL and ISL reflects the reality of our linguistic and cultural landscape and sends a powerful message about inclusion, respect and equality.

She spoke of wanting to ensure, “Deaf people are not only included, but are actively influencing and shaping the services that affect their lives”.

This must lead to meaningful, lasting change for our community.

Chairperson of the BDA, Robert Adam, reiterated this emphasis on implementation. He said:

The hard work starts here. We need to work together to turn this legislation into meaningful change in people’s lives. The sign language community stands ready to work with government to set clear priorities and deliver real progress.

That means ensuring early access to sign language for deaf babies, children and their families; expanding the availability of public information in sign language; and empowering deaf signers to play a stronger, more visible role in shaping the decisions that affect our lives and our future.

MLAs: Limit self-congratulation until there’s equality for all

Sinn Féin’s Colm Gildernew, chairman of the Stormont Communities Committee, spoke of the need to ensure the private sector gets on board too. He said:

The department’s future work on extending any central system outside of [the] public sector will be key to this, and something stakeholders raised consistently with the committee.

Gordon Lyons, whose Department for Communities led on the bill, said:

For generations, deaf people have built rich linguistic, cultural and social communities through sign language yet that history has too often been marked by exclusion. Legal recognition of sign language has lagged far behind lived reality.

At further consideration stage, I spoke of the Milan conference in 1880 and how its decisions led to deaf children being discouraged from learning and using their own language, and deaf people in general being marginalised in employment and civic life, often seen and treated as outsiders, as not quite belonging.

The Milan conference Lyons referred to was the Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf. There it was declared that “oral education (oralism) was superior to manual education”. A resolution then banned the use of sign language in schools.

It led to schools in Europe and North America using speech therapy without sign language in education for Deaf people. UNESCO described the impact:

The resolutions of this Congress impacted negatively on deaf people’s access to language and education in many countries, excluded deaf teachers from the profession, and contributed to the widespread devaluing of signed languages.

It’s welcome that Lyons can recognise the mistreatment of a marginalised group 145 years ago. It’s always more valuable to recognise it in the here and now, at a time when his own Democratic Unionist Party scapegoats immigrants and trans people.

There was rightly a mood of self-congratulation in the Assembly chamber during the passage of the bill. However, the cheers will echo only as hypocrisy if similar legislation isn’t extended to all of today’s marginalised communities.

Featured image via the Canary

By Robert Freeman

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