FSRN Weekly Edition – August 5, 2016
- Videos released in Chicago police killing; questions persist in Baltimore shooting
- Protests in Paris over deaths in police custody have parallels with Black Lives Matter
- Forced evictions taint Olympics’ legacy in Rio
- Spike in violence against India’s Dalits by Hindu extremists sparks protests
- California pot industry divided over ballot legalization measure
- Wildfire, drought, pests threaten Sierra Nevada’s wild forests
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Videos released in Chicago police killing; questions persist in Baltimore shooting
Embattled New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced his retirement Tuesday, just one day after police accountability protesters set up an encampment outside City Hall. But the Mayor insists the two events are not related. FSRN’s Nell Abram has more.
Protests in Paris over deaths in police custody have parallels with Black Lives Matter
Angry protests in the Parisian suburbs followed last month’s death of a 24-year-old black man who apparently was suffocated in the back of a police van. As FSRN’s Khaled Sid Mohand reports, that’s not the only parallel with the Baltimore Freddie Gray case and the Black Lives Matter movement in general.
Spike in violence against India’s Dalits by Hindu extremists sparks protests
In India, attacks against members of the Dalit caste at the hands of Hindu extremists are on the rise. That’s led to protests across the country by Dalits who are now showing themselves more and more capable of standing up for their rights. FSRN’s Bismillah Geelani reports from New Delhi.
Forced evictions taint Olympics’ legacy in Rio
The Olympic Games officially begin in Rio de Janiero and hundreds of thousands of tourists, athletes and officials are expected to descend on the city. Protesters held an anti-Olympics opening ceremony Thursday decrying forced evictions and state violence, in the run-up to the games. FRSN’s Sam Cowie reports from Rio.
California pot industry divided over ballot legalization measure
California voters will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana in November. That’s exactly 20 years after state voters approved the nation’s first medical marijuana law. But the medical marijuana industry is divided on full legalization. Some say they’re worried it will open the floodgates to agribusiness and destroy the state’s cottage industry for growing pot. Others say legalization has the potential to benefit poor communities of color hardest-hit by the war on drugs. FSRN’s Carla Green reports from Los Angeles.
Wildfire, drought, pests threaten Sierra Nevada’s wild forests
The Los Angeles Times reports Friday that more than 350 square miles of land have already burned this year; eight people have died and 300 homes destroyed. The ferocity of recent wildfires in the Sierra Nevada mountain range has been alarming while drought, infestation and the effects of climate change threaten the survival of some of the West Coast’s most wild forestland.Sixty six million trees are already dead and it could be 100 million by the end of this year. FSRN’s Vic Bedoian takes a closer look.
