From January 15 to 26, five Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance members participated in an exposure tour of Malaysia, hosted by the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM).
Day 1: Arriving in Kuala Lumpur and Bersih rallies
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur late on Friday evening and stayed in dormitories that served as a training facility for the Catholic Church.
That night, PSM members told us about the Bersih rallies, which have been among the largest demonstrations to have taken place in Malaysia.
Police brutality, killings, shootings and violence
Film director Quentin Tarantino at #BlackLivesMatter protest in New York City on October 24.
Ever since the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement emerged on the streets to protest repeated police killings of African Americans, there has been a backlash, spearheaded by the police mutual benefit societies mislabelled labour unions.
鈥淭here is a saying amongst them that all cops are bastards,鈥 Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm about the attitude of many fans of the Western Sydney Wanderers football (soccer) team towards the police force. 鈥淭he cops have earned that label, they have to un-earn it.鈥
Here's this month's radical record round-up, with an emphasis on police brutality worldwide. It actually features聽far more聽than 11 albums (count them). What album, or albums, would you suggest? Comment on聽听辞谤听.听
I had no intention of going to Ferguson, the flashpoint of the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality. It was the United States鈥 dirty problem, not Australia鈥檚.
Then I read a piece about Black Lives Matter activists taking the mic from Bernie Sanders while he campaigned for Democratic presidential candidacy. Parts of the crowd booed.
#BlackLivesMatter activists Marissa Johnson and Mara Willaford stormed the stage as Sanders began speaking and demanded an opportunity to address racial injustice. Seattle, August 8.
There is a lull in the large mass mobilisations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, but the campaign targetting racism and police brutality remains central to politics in the US.
The white police officer who shot two unarmed Black youths in May in Thurston County, Washington state, will not face criminal charges, the Thurston County Prosecutor announced on September 2, because the youths鈥 skateboards were said to be 鈥渢hreatening鈥 the officer.
Prosecutor Jon Tunheim said that rather than charging the cop, whose bullets left one of the young men paralysed from the waist down, assault charges would be filed against the two men, Bryson Chaplin, 21, and Andre Thompson, 24.
On the weekend that marked the one year anniversary of the police killing of Michael Brown, another disturbingly similar case made the social media rounds: another unarmed young Black man was shot dead, on August 7, another police officer on administrative leave holding the smoking gun, another rush to convict the dead.
African American singer-songwriter Janelle Monae, who is seeking to use her popularity to speak out against police brutality and racism, had her comments in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement cut from a performance on the NBC's Today show on August 14.
Thousands braved heat and no shade to rally and march in Newark, New Jersey, on July 25 and police brutality, racial injustice and economic inequality.
Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old African American woman, has joined the growing list of Black people killed by police whose case has become a national issue.
Bland was active in the Black Lives Matter movement, posting a series of videos in defence of the movement.
The following statement was released by the Melbourne Street Medics' Collective on July 18.
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