Trump sued over comments about notorious "Central Park Five,"  New York case

Agence France-Presse
October 21, 2024 

The "Central Park Five," five men who were falsely convicted of rape in a notorious 1989 New York case, launched a defamation lawsuit Monday against former US president Donald Trump.

The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Pennsylvania, accuses the Republican White House candidate of making "false and defamatory" comments during the September 10 presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia.

The five Black and Hispanic men -- Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise -- were teenagers when they were convicted of the rape and assault of a female jogger in Central Park.

They were eventually exonerated and their convictions were vacated in 2002. They received $41 million in a 2014 settlement with New York City.

Trump, during the presidential debate, "falsely stated that Plaintiffs killed an individual and pled guilty to the crime," the lawsuit said. "These statements are demonstrably false.

"Plaintiffs never pled guilty to any crime and were subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing."

The lawsuit also recalled that Trump, 11 days after the Central Park attack, published a full-page advertisement in four New York City newspapers calling to "bring back the death penalty."

Trump made comments about the "Central Park Five" after Harris mentioned the ad during the debate.

"A lot of people including Mayor Bloomberg agreed with me on the Central Park Five," Trump said, apparently confusing former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg with former New York mayor Ed Koch, who was the mayor at the time.


"They admitted -– they said, they pled guilty," Trump said. "And I said, well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately.

"And if they pled guilty –- then they pled we're not guilty."

The "Central Park Five" are seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.

Joni Mitchell hits Donald Trump with expletive-laden attack

ANOTHER EXPAT CANADIAN FOR HARRIS

Julia Conley, Common Dreams
October 21, 2024 

Joni Mitchell (AFP)

With 17 days to go until Election Day in the United States, folk music icon Joni Mitchell told 17,000 people assembled at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles how she feels about the Republican presidential candidate.

"F--- Donald Trump," said the singer and songwriter at her three-hour concert on Saturday night.

Mitchell drew applause with the remark, which followed her performance of "Dog Eat Dog," a 1985 song she hadn't performed publicly since the year it was released.

The political song includes the lyrics, "The whitewashed hawks peddle hate and call it love," "Where the wealth's displayed / thieves and sycophants parade," and the refrain, "Holy hope in the hands of / snakebite evangelists and racketeers / and big wig financiers."


To the latter line, Mitchell ad-libbed the words, "Like Donald Trump!"

Mitchell called on audience members to ensure they vote in the election. Early voting has started in California and a number of other states including Arizona, Illinois, and Minnesota.


"This is an important one," Mitchell said. "I wish I could vote—I'm Canadian."

She then made a reference to Trump's yearslong attacks on immigrants, whom he has long accused of being disproportionately likely to commit crimes—a claim that is not supported by facts—and has said he would subject to mass deportation if he wins the election.

"I'm one of those lousy immigrants," Mitchell said, prompting laughter from the audience.

Mitchell has weighed in on political issues since launching her music career in the 1960s. She has written songs protesting wars including the Vietnam War, environmental destruction, and attacks on women's rights and autonomy.

'We have to go back to 1798': Trump proposes taking US back to when slavery was legal

David Edwards
October 21, 2024

RSBN/screen grab

Former President Donald Trump proposed making America great again by taking the country "back" to a time when slavery was legal and women couldn't vote.

During a Monday rally in Greenville, North Carolina, the former president talked about his plan to conduct mass deportations if re-elected.

"If Kamala gets four more years, you will not have a country left," Trump complained. "Immediately upon taking the oath of office, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history."

"I will rescue every town across America that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell out of our country back to where they came from," he continued.

Trump said he would invoke a law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to speed up deportations.

"Think of that, 1798," he told the crowd. "That's when we had real politicians that said, we're not going to play games."

"We have to go back to 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil," Trump added.

NOW READ: Not even ‘Fox and Friends’ can hide Trump’s dementia

Activists pointed out that 1790-era policies had some drawbacks.


"By 1798, politicians had made it legal to own slaves and illegal for women to vote in America," American Bridge noted on X (formerly Twitter).

Watch the video below from RSBN or at this link.

McDonald’s debunks Trump's accusation that Harris lied about fast food work

Sarah K. Burris
October 21, 2024

Tech campaigners are calling for stricter guardrails around AI ahead of the U.S. presidential elections in November between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump © Brendan SMIALOWSKI, Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File

Donald Trump's claim that McDonald's issued a statement claiming Vice President Kamala Harris never worked for the fast food giant was debunked Monday.

The Washington Post reported that McDonalds denied making such a response to the Trump camp.

Harris has said that she worked at McDonald's one summer between her freshman and sophomore years in school at Howard University. Though a throw away comment by Harris, Trump has latched onto the tale — and repeatedly claimed it was untrue.

Over the weekend, Trump's campaign closed down a McDonald's in Pennsylvania to use it for a photo opportunity as he donned an apron and cooked French fries — apparently for his supporters in a drive-thru.

Read Also: Revealed: Mark Robinson’s deeper ties to 'one of America's most dangerous cults'

“We have checked with McDonald’s, and they say, definitively, that there is no record of Lyin’ Kamala Harris ever having worked there,” Trump wrote Sunday on TruthSocial. “In other words, she never worked there, and has lied about this ‘job’ for years.”

But the Post's Philip Bump called that Trump's " rhetorical jump", hitting the ex-president's conclusion based on lack of documentation of short-term employment more than 40 years ago.

Bump went on to compare Trump's claim to the following: "If America’s collective memory and documentation of its history suddenly evaporated, we could prove that Trump was never president, since no record of his having done so exists."

Bump said management of the "Golden Arches" isn't happy with the attention.

“Though we are not a political brand,” a statement from McDonald's says, “we’ve been proud to hear former President Trump’s love for McDonald’s and Vice President Harris’s fond memories working under the Arches. While we and our franchisees don’t have records for all positions dating back to the early ’80s, what makes ‘1 in 8’ so powerful is the shared experience so many Americans have had.”

The reference to 1 in 8 is to the number of Americans who have worked for McDonald's at one point in their lives.

"We end where we started," wrote Bump. "There is no reason to think that Harris didn’t work at McDonald’s in 1983 and ... every reason to think that Trump’s suggestion that she didn’t is offered in bad faith and without evidence. "

Read the full column here.

'It's a joke': UAW president slams Trump's 'charade' campaign stunt as 'playing dress up'
Daniel Hampton
October 21, 2024 10:12PM ET

The president of the United Auto Workers slammed former President Donald Trump's visit to a Pennsylvania McDonald's, calling it a "joke" on CNN and saying Trump was simply "playing dress-up." (Screengrab via CNN

The president of the United Auto Workers slammed former President Donald Trump's visit to a Pennsylvania McDonald's, calling it a "joke" on CNN and saying Trump was simply playing "dress-up."

Trump visited the fast food chain in suburban Philadelphia on Sunday, working the fry station of the McDonald's, which was closed to the public during his visit. During the roughly 30-minute event, he took questions from customers through the drive-through window.

But Shawn Fain, head of the UAW, wasn't impressed, telling CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, "I think it's a joke and I think most voters see it that way."

"Let's be real," he said. "Donald Trump wants to play pretend and put on a show and play dress up and act like he understands what working-class people go through, what fast food workers go through."

The reality, he noted, is the eatery was closed to the public.

"It was franchisees and campaign supporters that were screened and allowed to be customers," said Fain.

He added: "This is not the life of a McDonald's worker," noting they work at a furious pace to clear people through the line and make the company money, all at "poverty wages."

"To me, it's a slam and it's an insult to people that have to do that work every day that are trying to pay the bills at the end of the week and that's their biggest fear is getting their bills paid," said Fain. "Trump doesn't understand that. So I think that whole charade was a joke."


On the contrary, he said, Vice President Kamala Harris knows what it's like to struggle, said Fain.

"Really to me [that's] one of the distinct differences between these two candidates," he said.

Watch the clip below or at this link.

 

Local news hits Trump for serving 'pre-screened' supporters at 'closed' McDonald's

David Edwards
October 21, 2024 

Spectrum News/screen grab

Spectrum News, airing on local stations across the country, called out former President Donald Trump for appearing to serve "pre-screened" supporters at a "closed" McDonald's in Pennsylvania on Sunday.

In the Monday report, Spectrum News correspondent Angi Gonzalez noted that Vice President Kamala Harris spent part of her weekend speaking at a church in Georgia. Meanwhile, Trump was campaigning in Pennsylvania.

"Sunday, during a campaign stop at a McDonald's near Philadelphia, Trump briefly interacted with a pre-screened group of supporters at the drive-thru," Gonzalez said. "The location was closed to the public at the time of his visit."

"While there, he continued to claim without evidence that Harris has never worked at McDonald's, something that she revealed about her past in the early days of her campaign," she added.

Gonzalez also noted that Trump had used foul language against his opponent during a rally over the weekend.

NOW READ: Not even ‘Fox and Friends’ can hide Trump’s dementia


"We can't stand you, you're a sh-t vice president," Trump complained. "Kamala, you're fired, get the hell out of here, you're fired."

Harris responded to MSNBC: "What you see in my opponent, a former president of the United States, really is, it demeans the office."

Watch the video from Spectrum News below or at this link

 WHO declares Egypt malaria-free after 100-year effort

Mosquitoes cling to the inside of a jar loaded with repellent during a test as part of a tour -
Copyright © africanewsDavid Zalubowski/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.

By Rédaction Africanews 

Egypt has officially been declared free of malaria by the World Health Organization (WHO), a major success for the country. The WHO called this achievement "truly historic."

Malaria has been a problem in Egypt for thousands of years, but now the disease is part of the past. WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "Malaria is as old as Egyptian civilization, but it no longer exists in the country."

Egypt started working to get rid of malaria nearly 100 years ago. To be declared malaria-free, a country must show that no local transmission of the disease has happened for at least three years.

Malaria still kills over 600,000 people every year, mostly in Africa. But Egypt is now one of 44 countries and one territory around the world that have eliminated the disease. It is also the third country in the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region to achieve this, after the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.

The WHO praised Egypt for its efforts but warned that the country must stay alert to keep malaria from returning. The organization explained that Egypt's work to fight malaria began in the 1920s when they started limiting crops like rice that attract mosquitoes.

Malaria is caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes. While vaccines are now being used in some areas, the best ways to prevent malaria are still avoiding mosquito bites and closely monitoring the disease.

Europe to Train Doctors on Effects of Climate Change on Health

ByJohn Koutroumpis

October 21, 2024

Rising temperatures create ideal conditions for mosquitoes that carry diseases. Credits: Enrique Dans / CC BY 2.0

Climate change has reached the medical field. Europe has launched a new training program that aims to prepare young doctors to respond to health problems exacerbated by climate change. A network of experts will teach doctors-in-training about climate-related diseases.

According to The Guardian, mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria will become a bigger part of the curriculum at medical schools across Europe due to the climate crisis.

Future doctors will also have more training in heat stroke recognition and treatment and will be expected to consider the climate impact of treatments such as asthma inhalers.

The impact of climate change on disease

Glasgow University’s Dr. Camille Huser, co-chair of ENCHE (European Network of Climate and Health Education) said: “The role of climate in teaching at medical schools varies widely and often consists of a single module or lecture.” The network predicts that in the future it will be “infused” into all teaching.

“Climate change…is not necessarily creating a whole new set of diseases that we haven’t seen before, but it’s exacerbating the ones that exist,” Huser said.

“Diabetes, for example, is not something that people associate with climate change at all, but the symptoms and complications are becoming more common and worse for people living in a world where the climate has changed.”

New treatments

Students are also being taught to support various activities such as walking or cycling instead of driving and “green prescribing,” whereby doctors encourage patients to take part in activities such as community gardening and tree planting. Both offer health benefits to individuals and are favorable for the environment.

Encouraging people to take care of their health has “huge benefits for them personally,” Huser said but also “will reduce emissions if they require less input from the health care system.”

He added that many people don’t realize that the health care sector is responsible for as many or more greenhouse gas emissions than the airline industry. “When you fly somewhere, you feel very guilty, but when you go to the doctor, you don’t feel guilty.”

What kinds of health-related climate change effects might future doctors see?

Students will see how changes in the way an event is managed might have an impact. For example, the inhalers used to treat asthma emit greenhouse gases, so keeping the condition under control not only benefits the patient but also reduces the use of inhalers.

Some patients may be able to switch to dry powder inhalers, which emit fewer greenhouse gases if the devices are deemed suitable for them.

Although there have been piecemeal initiatives at the institutional level, network leaders say this is the first collaborative effort to focus on teaching medical students.

The network will also seek to influence national curriculum-setting bodies, such as the General Medical Council in the UK, to make the climate crisis a mandatory part of all physician training programs.

What is the goal of the network?

Huser’s co-chair, Professor Iain McInnes, also of the University of Glasgow, said the network’s aim is to “embed the debate into medical curricula so that future doctors are literate in this debate and don’t feel that this is an election issue.”

“This is as central and critical to their thinking as dealing with obesity, smoking and other environmental challenges,” McInnes said. “It’s just part of the DNA of being a physician.”

Climate change to affect health of all

ENCHE will serve as a regional hub for the Global Consortium for Climate and Health Education (GCCHE) at Columbia University’s School of Public Health in New York.

Professor Cecilia Sorensen, the director of GCCHE, said: “ENCHE is one of the most important training institutions in the country: Climate change will affect us all, everywhere, but not equally and not in the same way.”

“Regional networks are essential to help health professionals anticipate and respond to climate and health challenges that are unique to the communities where they practice,” Sorensen concluded.

Crackdown on protesters in Mozambique following political killings

Mozambican police deploys in the streets of Maputo, Mozambique, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, during a nationwide shutdown protest following a disputed Oct. 9 election. -

 
Copyright © africanews
By Dominic Wabwireh

In Mozambique, police suppressed an opposition protest on Monday morning in central Maputo.

The opposition leader and presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane was addressing the press, when police targeted his campaign headquarters with tear gas, forcing the opposition leader to flee.

Mondlane had called for a general strike, alleging fraud in the general elections that the ruling party claims victory. "The police are unable to stop actions that rely on the choices of individuals and the collective will of the people, which can lead to a halt in activities. We urge everyone- public sector workers, civil servants, police, military, and those in the private sector- to participate in a general strike. A more radical second phase than the first will be announced soon," he said.

This protest, which law enforcement had banned, took place two days after the assassination of two associates of the opposition leader."

Tensions are rising as the final results of the general elections are set to be announced on October 24.

Opponents are already disputing the preliminary results that declare Daniel Chapo, the candidate from the ruling Frelimo party, as the winner.

On the streets this Monday morning, protesters shouted slogans like "Save Mozambique" and "This country is ours."

This demonstration comes just two days after the assassination of two associates of Venancio Mondlane: Elvino Dias, Mondlane's lawyer, and Paulo Guamba, a member of the Podemos party.

Following Dias's death, who was preparing a legal challenge against alleged electoral fraud, Mondlane firmly believes that the Mozambican defense and security forces are responsible for the double murder.

He stated, "We have proof. The blood of two young men is now on the ground! We will all take to the streets. We will protest with our signs."

This assassination raises concerns among observers about a potential surge in violence in the country.

Earlier on Monday, the European Union expressed its worries about the "violent dispersal" of the protest.

The day before, writer Mia Couto emphasized that a resolution to the crisis would not be achieved "through riots or police repression."

Mozambique has experienced several assassinations during election periods, including the killing of an observer in 2019 and a journalist in 2023, but this is the first time that party representatives have been targeted.

Perth and Kinross council workers take fight to Scottish government

Unison union members at the Scottish local authority began a two-week strike on Monday

Strikers on the picket line in Perth and Kinross on Monday (Picture: Perth and Kinross Unison)

By Sarah Bates
Monday 21 October 2024

SOCIALIST WORKER Issue


Over 1,000 workers have taken their fight for higher pay to the doorstep of Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney.

Unison union members shut down every primary school and early years centre in Swinney’s Perth and Kinross constituency.

The local authority workers’ two-week strike, which started on Monday, also closed two secondary schools.

Stuart Hope, Perth and Kinross Unison branch secretary, told Socialist Worker that strikers were “full of spirits this morning” on Monday. “It’s a big ask for our members to go out for the whole of Scotland,” he said.

“But it’s absolutely solid—everybody is up for the full two weeks.”

Local authority workers are fighting against the Scottish National Party (SNP) government’s imposition of a 3.6 percent pay deal

The predominantly women strikers largely work as teaching assistants, cleaners, catering workers and in administrative roles.

Ahead of the action, Swinney fumed that there was “absolutely no justification” for workers to walk out. But these workers, who are already low paid, are right to fight back against yet another rubbish pay deal.

His government say there’s no more money to give workers a better deal. And it’s refusing to sit down with Unison to resolve the dispute.

Stuart said strikers were “extremely disappointed” with Swinney’s intransigence. “They’re seeing pay rises given to other public sector workers and millions of pounds put into other projects,” he said.

“They start to question whether they’re valued.” Schools and early years workers and waste, recycling and street cleaning workers have mandates to strike in 17 other councils in Scotland.

Unison should bring them all out. Strikers in Perth and Kinross are leading the way with their inspiring action, but it will take national action to win.
Local government ballot misses turnout threshold

Some 82,000 local government workers in England and Wales have voted for strikes—but missed the turnout threshold demanded by Tory anti-union laws which is still in force.

Some 80 percent of Unison union member who voted backed strikes over pay, but turnout was only 29 percent.

Three branches—Knowsley and Wirral on Merseyside and Barnet in north London—managed to get over the 50 percent threshold.

Helen Davies, Barnet Unison branch chair and a Unison local government service group executive rep for London, said the result reflects a “contradictory picture”.

“A third of members is saying pay is an issue and they want to strike—that’s not a majority but it’s not insignificant,” she said. “At some point, those voices need to be heard.”

The ballot was beset by technical difficulties, such as postal ballots not arriving at workers’ houses and a poor quality database provided by Unison nationally.

This, alongside the union bureaucracy’s sluggish attitude, meant it was extremely difficult for branch activists to speak to let alone convince people about the need to vote.

“This shows there’s been no lessons learnt from previous years,” says Helen.

“There were a lot of things put in the way of this becoming a successful ballot. We had a consultative ballot which confused people and then there was a long gap until the statutory ballot.

Helen says that recent local strikes in Barnet have “deepened” the anger about pay and conditions in her workplace—and made it easier to build the ballot.

“In the ‘adults’ department—where we had the strike—the response was a lot more emphatic than the year before,” she said.

It’s an example about how striking builds union organisation in workplaces.

UK

NUJ condemns abuse of counterterror laws after officers raid Asa Winstanley's home


Elizabeth Tower, part of the Palace of Westminster, is seen with a Metropolitan Police officer in Parliament Square, London, March 19, 2022

THE National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has condemned a police raid on the home of the Electronic Intifada journalist Asa Winstanley as an abuse of counterterrorism legislation.

The union warned today that the growing use of the laws amounted to an intimidatory measure harmful to public interest journalism and press freedom, saying they were part of so-called Operation Incessantness.

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “Abuse and misuse of counterterror legislation has serious ramifications for public confidence in the police whilst directly threatening the safety of journalists.

“The UK government cannot on one hand state its commitment to valuing media freedom while endorsing the targeting of journalists through raids and seizures of journalistic material in this manner.

“All use of terrorism legislation must be proportionate or risks grave harm to media freedom.

“We seek further detail of Operation Incessantness, with clarity on considered safeguards to prevent the unlawful investigations of journalists.”

At least 10 officers raided the Electronic Intifada associate editor’s home in north London before 6am last Thursday.

A letter addressed to him by the Metropolitan Police counterterrorism command said that it was “investigating possible offences” of “encouraging terrorism” under sections one and two of the Terrorism Act.

The journalist was served with warrants and other papers authorising officers to search his house and vehicle for devices and documents.

An officer said the investigation was connected with Mr Winstanley’s social media posts, Electronic Intifada reported.

Independent MP for Islington North Jeremy Corbyn said: “This is an extremely concerning and alarming incident.”

Mr Winstanley, who was neither arrested nor charged with any offence, said: “I have dedicated my career to journalism and telling the truth, but right now my priority is the protection of my sources.

“We are taking legal steps to ensure that happens. Journalism is not a crime.”

‘You are not my king,’ Indigenous Australian senator yells at visiting King Charles

Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe, center, disrupts proceedings as Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend a Parliamentary reception hosted by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and partner Jodie Jaydon at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. 

By Associated Press - Monday, October 21, 2024

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Indigenous senator told King Charles III that Australia is not his land as the British royal visited Australia’s parliament on Monday.

Sen. Lidia Thorpe was escorted out of a parliamentary reception for the royal couple after shouting that British colonizers have taken Indigenous land and bones.

“You committed genocide against our people,” she shouted. “Give us what you stole from us - our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty.”

No treaty was ever struck between British colonizers and Australia’s Indigenous peoples.

Charles spoke quietly with Albanese while security officials stopped Thorpe from approaching.


“This is not your land. You are not my king,” Thorpe yelled as she was ushered from the hall.

Thorpe is renowned for high-profile protest action. When she was affirmed as a senator in 2022, she wasn’t allowed to describe the then-monarch as “the colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.” She briefly blocked a police float in Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Madri Gras last year by lying on the street in front of it. Last year, she was also banned for life from a Melbourne strip club after video emerged of her abusing male patrons.


Albanese, who wants the country to become a republic with an Australian head of state, made an oblique reference to the issue in his speech welcoming the monarch.

“You have shown great respect for Australians, even during times when we have debated the future of our own constitutional arrangements and the nature of our relationship with the Crown,” Albanese said. But, he said, “nothing stands still.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who wants to keep the British king as Australia’s monarch, said that many supporters of a republic were honored to attend a reception for the Charles and Queen Camilla at Parliament House in the capital Canberra.

“People have had haircuts, people have shined shoes, suits have been pressed and that’s just the republicans,” Dutton quipped.


But Australia’s six state government signaled their support for an Australian head of state by declining invitations to the reception. They each said they had more pressing engagements on Monday, but monarchists agreed the royals had been snubbed.

Charles used the start of his speech to thank Canberra Indigenous elder Auntie Violet Sheridan for her traditional welcome to the king and queen.

“Let me also say how deeply I appreciated this morning’s moving Welcome to Country ceremony, which offers me the opportunity to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people, and all First Nations peoples who have loved and cared for this continent for 65,000 years,” Charles said.

“Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations peoples have done me the great honor of sharing so generously their stories and cultures. I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom,” Charles added.


Australians decided in a referendum in 1999 to retain Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. That result is widely regarded to have been the consequence of disagreement about how a president would be chosen rather than majority support for a monarch.

Albanese has ruled out holding another referendum on the subject during his current three-year term in government. But it is a possibility if his center-left Labor Party is re-elected at elections due by May next year.

Charles was drawn into Australia’s republic debate months before his visit.


The Australian Republic Movement, which wants Australia to sever its constitutional ties with Britain, wrote to Charles in December last year requesting a meeting in Australia and for the king to advocate their cause. Buckingham Palace politely wrote back in March to say the king’s meetings would be decided upon by the Australian government. A meeting with the ARM does not appear on the official itinerary.

“Whether Australia becomes a republic is … a matter for the Australian public to decide,” the Buckingham Palace letter said.

Earlier Monday, Charles and Camilla laid wreaths at the Australian War Memorial then shook hands with well-wishers on the second full day of their visit.

The memorial estimated 4,000 people had turned out to see the couple.

Charles, 75, is being treated for cancer, which has led to a scaled-down itinerary. It is Charles’ 17th trip to Australia and the first since he became king in 2022. It is the first visit to Australia by a reigning British monarch since his late mother Queen Elizabeth II traveled to the distant nation in 2011.

Charles and Camilla rested the day after their arrival late Friday before making their first public appearance of the trip at a church service in Sydney on Sunday. They then flew to Canberra where they visited the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier and a reception at Parliament House.

Before leaving the war memorial, they stopped to greet hundreds of people who gathered under clear skies flying Australian flags. The temperature was forecast to reach a mild high of 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit).

On Wednesday, Charles will travel to Samoa, where he will open the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Why an Australian senator heckled King Charles

Katy Watson
BBC News
Reporting from Canberra
Oct 21, 2024

'You are not my King': Moment King Charles is heckled by Australian politician

Lidia Thorpe is no stranger to controversy and it’s not the first time she’s voiced her views on the British monarchy.

The Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman has been a senator for Victoria since 2020, the first Aboriginal senator from that state.

Prior to that, she had a history of Indigenous activism - she also worked as the chairperson of Naidoc (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) for the state of Victoria, an organisation that works to recognise and teach Australians about First Nations cultures and their histories.

In 2022, while being sworn in to parliament after a re-election, she called the late Queen a coloniser.

“I sovereign, Lidia Thorpe, do solemnly and sincerely swear that I will be faithful and I bear true allegiance to the colonising her majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” she said, as she was being sworn in.

After criticism from other senators, she then repeated the oath as printed.

So Monday’s incident wouldn’t have come as much surprise to anyone who follows Australian politics. Lidia Thorpe has made her views clear - that British settlement saw huge numbers of Indigenous people massacred and the scars of colonisation are still very apparent for many First Nations people in Australia.

Whether or not you agree with Lidia Thorpe’s approach, the fact is that there are deep disparities between First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians when it comes to many indicators including education, health and life expectancy.

Last year Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a young Indigenous man was more likely to go to jail than university, which is borne out by statistics, as ABC showed.

And between 2020 and 2022, the life expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders was estimated to be eight years shorter than non-Indigenous Australians.

“I wanted to send a clear message to the King of England that he’s not the King of this country, he’s not my king, he’s not sovereign,” Thorpe told the BBC after being removed from the Great Hall after heckling. “To be sovereign you have to be of this land. He’s not of this land.”

She went on.

“How can he stand up there and say he’s the King of our country - he’s stolen so much wealth from our people and from our land and he needs to give that back. And he needs to entertain a conversation for a peace treaty in this country,” she said.

“We can lead that, we can do that - we can be a better country but we cannot bow to the coloniser whose ancestors he spoke about in there are responsible for mass murder, for mass genocide.”

Reuters
Lidia Thorpe was escorted out by security after she heckled King Charles

One of Lidia Thorpe’s biggest grievances is the fact that Australia is the only Commonwealth nation that has never signed a treaty with its Indigenous people. She’s been pushing for that as a priority.

For her, last year’s referendum on a Voice to Parliament - a body made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders providing advice to parliament on Indigenous issues - was a distraction from what was important - a treaty.

Australians resoundingly voted against the proposal and she was one of a minority of First Nations people who also voted no.

She told the BBC at the time that the Voice was about "assimilating us into the colonial constitution to make us nice, neat little Indigenous Australians that will continue to be oppressed by the coloniser".

Indigenous Australian senator defends heckling King

Aboriginal Australians: 'Could the Queen have done more?'

But she was in the minority among First Nations people to do so. Regions with a high proportion of Indigenous Australians overwhelmingly voted yes but Aboriginal people make up close to 4% of Australia’s population. Nationally, just over 60% of voters across Australia voted against.

Not all Indigenous leaders appear as troubled by royal visits as Lidia Thorpe.

Allira Davis, co-chair of the Uluru Youth Dialogue, said she respected the late Queen, even describing her as “beautiful”.

What about the current visit by King Charles?

“I don't think it's that important. We're our own country,” Allira Davis told the BBC, speaking before Lidia Thorpe heckled him in Canberra.

“Understanding the history of what has happened in this country is really, really key. We're not just a white country anymore. We're a very brown country. We're a very multicultural country.

“So I'm all for becoming a republic, but we need to deal with recognising our First Nations people.”

So although Lidia Thorpe reflects a view shared by many about the damage that colonisation did - and still does - not everyone agrees with her approach.

Local media have reported that former co-workers have found her difficult to work with.

But Lidia Thorpe - who is now an independent after leaving the Greens over the party’s support for the Yes vote in the referendum - is unlikely to change tack. She thinks the King needs to play a bigger role in making good the ills of the past.

Who is Lidia Thorpe? Australian senator shares cartoon of King Charles beheading

Aboriginal Australian senator Lidia Thorpe staged a protest against King Charles after his speech at Parliament House in Canberra.

Ross McGuinness
Mon 21 October 2024 

The Australian senator who shouted "You are not my king" at King Charles has shared a cartoon image of the monarch in which he is beheaded.

Charles was heckled on Monday by Lidia Thorpe, an Aboriginal independent senator who is a fierce campaigner for Indigenous people's rights and has a history of criticising the monarchy.

Hours after her verbal attack on the King, Thorpe posted a cartoon on her Instagram stories that shows him after being beheaded.

The image had been shared on Instagram by its creator, artist Matt Chun, who posted it alongside a quote from Thorpe's message to the King earlier in the day. The cartoon shows the King's head outside his crown, under Thorpe's statement, "You are not our king."

At the end of a speech delivered by Charles at Australia's Parliament House in the capital Canberra, Thorpe launched a verbal attack on him, claiming "genocide" had been committed against "our people", and demanded a treaty between Australia's First Nations and its government.

The independent senator from Victoria shouted: “You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us – our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people.

Australian senator Lidia Thorpe, centre, stages a protest against King Charles at Parliament House, Canberra, Australia. (Reuters)

“Give us a treaty – we want a treaty with this country. This is not your land, you are not my king, you are not our king.”

Charles had just left the lectern after his speech to rejoin Queen Camilla when Thorpe started shouting - her verbal attack lasted for about one minute before she was led from the room by security.

Afterwards, Thorpe told the BBC: “I wanted to send a clear message to the King of England that he is not the King of this country.

“He is not my king. He is not sovereign. We are sovereign. To be sovereign, you have to be of the land. He is not of this land.

Australian senator Lidia Thorpe is led away by security after protesting against King Charles at Parliament House in Canberra. (Reuters)

King Charles during a reception at Parliament House, Canberra, Australia, which was interrupted by a protesting senator. (Reuters)

“We have been demanding a treaty for decades and decades. There is a sophisticated genocide going on against my people. We have… almost 24,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children that have been taken from their families.”

Following the incident, Thorpe posted on X, formerly Twitter: "Not my King. Treaty now."

In his speech, Charles had spoken of the debt he owed to Australia’s Indigenous people.



He said: “Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations peoples have done me the great honour of sharing, so generously, their stories and cultures. I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom.”
Who is Lidia Thorpe?

The 51-year-old politician has a long history of activism, protest and defending the rights of Australia's Indigenous people, as well as publicly criticising the monarchy.

She has been the senator for Victoria since 2020 and is the first Aboriginal senator from that state.

Thorpe had been a member of the Greens and was the party's deputy leader in the Senate but quit her position after revelations she had a relationship with Dean Martin, the former head of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang, while she was serving on the parliament's law enforcement committee.

Aboriginal Australian senator Lidia Thorpe is known for her political activism. (Getty Images)

She left the party entirely to sit as an independent senator in 2023 over its backing for the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum, which she opposed, instead calling for a treaty process with the Aboriginal people.

Thorpe, an Aboriginal woman of Djab Wurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara descent, was born in 1973 and grew up in Housing Commission flats in Collingwood, Melbourne, and became a single mother at the age of 17 - she has three children.

She was declared bankrupt in 2013 and said that it had resulted from domestic violence, and was discharged from bankruptcy in 2016.

In 2017, Thorpe won a by-election as a Greens party candidate to take her seat in the Victorian state parliament, the first Indigenous woman to do so.

Senator Lidia Thorpe during her swearing-in on 6 October 2020. (Getty Images)

Although she lost that seat a year later, she was preselected in 2020 to become a Greens senator in the federal parliament. She wore a traditional Aboriginal possum-skin cloak when being sworn in and raised her fist in a "Black power" salute.

In 2022, after being re-elected, Thorpe criticised the monarchy by referring to the then Queen as "the colonising Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II" during her swearing-in ceremony. She was forced to take the oath again, removing her reference to "colonising".

Australian senator Lidia Thorpe during an 'abolish the monarchy' protest outside the British Consulate in Melbourne on 22 September 2022, a national day of mourning in Australia following Queen Elizabeth II's death. (Getty Images)

Lidia Thorpe with fake blood on her hands during a protest calling for the monarchy to be abolished. (Getty Images)

During an Australian national day of mourning following Elizabeth II's death in September of that year, Thorpe protested in an "abolish the monarchy" demonstration in Melbourne, in which she covered her hands in fake blood.

Thorpe said: "This is what today is about, the Crown has blood on their hands. Our people are still dying in this country every single day."

Senator Lidia Thorpe, left, and a man dressed as King Charles during a protest in Melbourne in May 2023 opposing his coronation. (Getty Images)

In May 2023, Thorpe dressed in Elizabethan costume and sat down with a man wearing a King Charles mask as part of a protest against his coronation.

In February 2023, Thorpe was roved from the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade after she lay down in front of a float to protest against the presence of police.

The following month, she protested against an anti-transgender rights rally, which included British activist Kellie-Jay Keen, outside Parliament House.

Keir Starmer praises Charles after king was heckled in Australia

Aletha Adu

Political correspondent
Mon 21 October 2024 

King Charles is doing a “fantastic job”, particularly in the context of his “health challenges”, the prime minister has said after the royal was heckled by the Indigenous Australian senator Lidia Thorpe.

Charles had just finished addressing MPs and senators at Parliament House in Canberra, as part of his five-day tour of Australia with Camilla, when he was approached by Thorpe, who yelled: “This is not your country.”

After the launch of the public consultation on the future of the NHS on Monday, Keir Starmer was asked whether it was “disgraceful” that Australian politicians were “heckling the king”.

Starmer said: “Look, I think the king is doing a fantastic job, an incredible ambassador not just for our country, but across the Commonwealth.

“I think he’s doing a fantastic job, and we should remember in the context of health, that he is out there doing his public service notwithstanding, you know, the health challenges he himself has had – so I think he’s doing a great job.”

Charles has paused his cancer treatment, after his diagnosis in February, while he carries out his first tour as monarch to Australia, and his state visit to Samoa.

Starmer also praised the monarch as an “incredible ambassador” for the Commonwealth, and said he was looking forward to joining Charles in Samoa for the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) summit.

Thorpe had shouted at Charles: “You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us – our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people.

“You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty in this country. You are a ‘genocidalist’.”

As Thorpe was ushered out from the hall, she added: “Give us a treaty – we want a treaty with this country … This is not your land, this is not your land, you are not my king, you are not our king.”

Thorpe later said in a statement: “The British crown committed heinous crimes against the First Peoples of this country.

“These crimes include war crimes, crimes against humanity and failure to prevent genocide. There has been no justice for these crimes. The crown must be held accountable.”

When asked if Britain was guilty of genocide in Australia, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said he would not be drawn on comments made in relation to royal matters. But he said Britain’s relationship with Australia was “fantastic” and that it was a key ally.

But No 10 said Starmer remained opposed to apologising for the UK’s historical role in slavery, with the spokesperson noting talks around reparations are “not on the agenda” for the Chogm meeting.

“The position on apology remains the same,” they said. “We won’t be offering an apology at Chogm, but we will continue to engage with partners on the issues as we work with them to tackle the pressing challenges of today and indeed for the future generations.”

NI

Alliance Calls For Ban Of Hunting Wild Mammals With Dogs

Alliance MLA John Blair has reintroduced a Private Member's Bill aimed at banning the hunting of wild mammals with dogs in Northern Ireland.

21/10/2024

Mr. Blair expressed concerns that the opportunity to end this practice could be lost if the Bill fails again. He previously attempted to introduce similar legislation in the previous Assembly mandate but faced opposition from Sinn Féin and most DUP MLAs.

The proposed Bill would bring Northern Ireland in line with the rest of the United Kingdom, where hunting wild mammals with dogs is already illegal.

"It is truly shocking we are in 2024 and still have no ban on hunting wild mammals with dogs, despite Alliance's previous attempts to do so," said Mr Blair, the party's Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs spokesperson.

"We came incredibly close to seeing this legislation become a reality a few years ago, with it only falling because Sinn Féin as a party and a number of DUP votes individually worked together to kill it. I am hoping this time round, we can give a voice to the majority of people who remain opposed to hunting wild mammals with dogs and show Northern Ireland does not condone it whatsoever. It is crucial this is not allowed to fail again.

"This consultation gives people an opportunity to make those voices heard and put on record their views in order to send a clear message.

"Animal welfare is a high priority for Alliance, and I encourage everyone to participate, so we can bring our legislation into line with the rest of the UK and outlaw this barbaric practice once and for all."

Complete the consultation here.