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The Al-Qaeda Leader Who Wasn’t: The Shameful Ordeal of Abu Zubaydah

Rebecca Gordon TomDispatch
In a stunning piece on an unforgettable set of American crimes, TomDispatch regular Rebecca Gordon catches the nightmarish quality of those years, now largely buried, in the grim case of a single mistreated human being. It should make Americans shudder. She has also just published a new book, American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes, that couldn’t be more relevant.

Letter from Pakistan: Demanding Land Rights Is Not Terrorism

Farooq Tariq Portside
A massive repression of the most militant but peaceful peasant movement--the Anjman Mozareen Punjab (AMP)--is underway. Most of its leadership has been arrested under false anti-terrorist laws. Dozens are missing while over 50 remain behind bars.

Updating the Party: Cuba’s New (and Not So New) Leaders

William M. LeoGrande The World Post
Generational succession is high on the agenda of Cuba’s Communist Party leadership, still dominated at the highest level by “los historicos“ — the generation that fought together against the Batista dictatorship and founded the revolutionary regime.

Do We Want Our Children Taught by Humans or Algorithms?

Zoe Williams The Guardian
If Nicky Morgan won’t listen to teachers, parents need to take action to prevent our schools turning into joyless exam factories, starting with Tuesday’s boycott. By coincidence, at the end of last week, Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, was in London to hand in a petition to Pearson, the education company and provider of curriculums and test delivery.

The Welfare of Workers Should be Our Primary Concern…

Gary Herman Union Solidarity International
An increase in restructuring, downsizing, merging, outsourcing and subcontracting, precarious work and a higher likelihood of massive layoffs of workers, unemployment, poverty and social exclusion are a source of what is known in the field as ‘psychosocial hazards,' according to a study by the ILO.

The Life and Death of Daniel Berrigan

Rev. John Dear Common Dreams
Rev. Daniel Berrigan, the renowned anti-war activist, award-winning poet, author and Jesuit priest, who inspired religious opposition to the Vietnam war and later the U.S. nuclear weapons industry, died at age 94, just a week shy of his 95th birthday.

The Labor Movement’s May Day Promise

Erica Smiley The American Prospect
Some cast the labor movement as dying or even dead, but even amid attacks on collective bargaining workers are finding innovative ways to organize.