by Margaret Flowers / December 21st, 2020
Person arrested protesting for Medicare for All. New York City. 2009 (HealthcareNow.org.)
It was ten years ago last week that the Arab Spring began. I recall it well as the day before Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia and ignited a revolutionary movement, I stood in the snow for hours protesting outside the White House with hundreds of veterans against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Inside the White House, President Obama was telling the press how well the wars were going. Outside, soldiers who fought in those wars told a different story.
After Trump Blocked UN Inquiry of Racist Violence, NGOs Are Conducting Their Own
Portland police disperse a crowd of protesters past a mural of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor on September 26, 2020, in Portland, Oregon.
Nathan Howard / Getty Images
Shortly after the public lynching of George Floyd, the U.S. Human Rights Network and the ACLU organized an international coalition of more than 600 organizations and individuals to urge the United Nations Human Rights Council to convene a commission of inquiry to investigate systemic racism and police brutality in the United States. George Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, addressed the Council by video, stating, “You in the United Nations are your brothers’ and sisters’ keepers in America.” He implored the UN, “I’m asking you to help us Black people in America.”