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Matthew Behrens

@matthewbehrens.bsky.social
603 followers 1.3K following 389 posts

The arc of the moral universe only bends toward justice when we make that happen. Rights for refugees, abolition of War Dept, prisons and police, fund a caring economy.

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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"There is a particular obscenity in being conscious of suffering and still allowing it to become ordinary." A must-read reflection from the NE Syrian Roj camp which, after 7 years, still illegally detains thousands of women and children. homesnotbombs.blogspot.com/2026/09/a-wo...
homesnotbombs.blogspot.com
A Wound in the Conscience: Where the human is looted
Written by a detainee at the Roj Prison Camp in northeastern Syria, which holds without charge thousands of women and children. Canada refus...
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Rest in peace, Robin Morgan.
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Please sign aND SHARE takeaction.amnesty.ca/page/191473/...
takeaction.amnesty.ca
Iran: Free Narges Mohammadi
Narges Mohammadi has been unjustly targeted and imprisoned for her peaceful human rights work for nearly 25 years. If returned to prison, her already fragile health will be in serious jeopardy. Call f...
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
" I will remain eternally grateful to Gloria for the work she did for me while I was in jail....without that effort to publicize racism and the repression that were involved in my case, I don't know whether I would be talking to you today." www.npr.org/2026/09/05/n...
npr.org
I don't think I had $10 in the bank: Angela Davis remembers Gloria Steinem's allyship
Activist and author Angela Davis remembers her friend Gloria Steinem, and discusses intersectional feminism today.
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
This has been such a hard week. Rest in power Robin Morgan. msmagazine.com/2026/09/05/r...
msmagazine.com
Rest in Power, Robin Morgan—Ms. Editor, Poet, Feminist and Architect of the Women’s Movement
Longtime <em>Ms.</em> editor and "architect of the contemporary women's movement," Robin Morgan died peacefully in her sleep on Sept. 5, 2026, just days after her friend and feminist partner Gloria St...
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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Feminists are not more prone to mistakes and missteps than the leaders of other liberation struggles. Rather, their mistakes and missteps are given disproportionate attention, significance and publicity.
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s... Claim relating to infamous apartheid-era mass murder of protesters part of wave of litigation for apartheid-era crimes
theguardian.com
Victims sue South African government over 1961 Sharpeville massacre that left 91 dead
Claim relating to infamous apartheid-era shooting of protesters part of wave of litigation for apartheid-era crimes
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Proud to have signed on to this letter. migrantrights.ca/righttoprotest
migrantrights.ca
Migrant Have The Right To Protest - Migrant Rights Network
250+ organizations across Canada are standing with Portage students and defending migrants’ right to speak out, organize and protest. Migrants are part of our movements. We will not allow immigration ...
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The New Arab @thenewarab.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
British actress Juliet Stevenson and representatives of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Britain-Palestine Committee delivered a petition signed by more than 55,000 people calling on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to impose comprehensive sanctions on Israel to 10 Downing Street
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gamera obscura @ohrobin.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Belle didn’t leave Scrooge because he loved money, she left because she couldn’t handle a high-value Victorian male. Jacob Marley is forced to drag chains because accountability culture has gone too far. Tiny Tim, who does NOT die, starts a YouTube channel called Crutch Grindset.
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Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
"My piece was inspired by Picasso's Guernica...The patterns near Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s mouths are actually their last words in Morse code: ‘I’m not mad at you,’ and ‘Are you okay?’” -Jennifer Nelson (quoted in the linked booklet, alongside other extraordinary pieces)
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
As wildfires rage across the country, Cheryl Gallant continues to spread climate misinformation after a CSIS report said her conspiracy theories could increase the “threat of serious violence”. www.desmog.com/2026/08/24/c...
desmog.com
Canadian Intelligence Warned About Climate Conspiracies. This MP Kept Spreading Them.
As wildfires rage across the country, Cheryl Gallant continues to spread climate misinformation after a CSIS report said her conspiracy theories could increase the “threat of serious violence”.
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Elbows UP does not include continued close collaboration with the most violent military on the planet. If, as Carney says, Canada is under attack, why are we co-hosting a war gathering with the head of US Pacific Command?
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Linotype Pilgrim @symbo1ics.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
[content warnings]
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Bring them home! We only need 48 signatures to reach 29,000! End the illegal detention of Canadian Muslim children, men and women in Iraq and Syria. Canada must take action now. Almost a decade of arbitrary detention is beyond unspeakable. www.change.org/p/canada-mus...
change.org
Sign the Petition
Canada Must Free 16 Canadian Kids, Women & Men Illegally Detained in Iraq and Syria
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Please take two minutes to help bring home 16 Canadian Muslim men, women and children illegally detained abroad for almost a decade. Canada has refused to honour their Charter-protected right to come home. We need to change that. www.change.org/p/canada-mus...
change.org
Write to Urge Repatriation of Canadian Muslim Men, Women & Kids Illegally Detained in Iraq, Syria
Please spend 2 minutes to send a letter (template below) to help free 16 Muslim Canadian children, women and men illegally detained without charges for almost a decade in Syria and Iraq.  Even though their captors (as well as the US State Department, the UN, and many human rights organizations) have repeatedly begged Canada to repatriate them, Canada has spent millions in court to prevent …
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Please sign & share. Canada has abandoned Canadian Muslim men, women and children to arbitrary detention for years, even though their captors have repeatedly asked Canada to repatriate them (as have the US State Dept., United Nations, and leading human rights groups). www.change.org/p/canada-mus...
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Ottawa effectively holds the keys to the jail cells holding the Canadian men. "By refusing to open those prison doors, we remain deeply complicit in their decade-long arbitrary detention." The Iraqis & US seek repatriation. Canada must bring them home NOW. ca.news.yahoo.com/global-affai...
ca.news.yahoo.com
Global Affairs tight-lipped on fate of Canadian men being held in Iraq
OTTAWA — Global Affairs Canada is refusing to say whether Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand discussed the repatriation of Canadian men imprisoned in Iraq when she spoke recently with her Iraqi coun...
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The arguments trotted out against leaving fossil fuels in the ground are strikingly similar to the arguments trotted out against ending the slave trade, 230 years ago. 1. If we stop trading slaves / extracting fossil fuels, Britain’s economy will collapse 🧵
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Shooting into tents w/ arbitrarily detained women and children huddling inside is a sick criminal act. It is long past time that Canada repatriate remaining Canadian children, grant permits to their mothers, and bring home illegally detained Canadians from Iraq. www.middleeasteye.net/news/they-al...
middleeasteye.net
'They almost killed my child': Women in Syria's Roj camp describe night of gunfire and fear
Women detained in northeast Syria's Roj camp say bullets tore through tents housing children during a confrontation with Kurdish-led security forces
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Canada Healthwatch 🍁 @canadahealthwatch.ca · 24/07/2026
Planned changes to Ottawa’s Canada Health Transfer could slash more than $50B from public health care over a decade, David J. Climenhaga reports. This article and more at canadahealthwatch.ca #CdnHealth
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Wreckonciliation: When it comes to the massive, hugely consequential impacts of his reactionary policies on Indigenous people, Carney sets up what will likely be a one hour meeting tops with reps from 3 different nations. Because getting to the Stampede is more important to him.
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
My latest for @quillandquire.bsky.social Two new titles serve as disturbing reminders of our own “Maple Leaf” violence, a shameful reality deeply rooted in Canadian history and increasingly shaping contemporary political discourse. quillandquire.com/review/for-b...
quillandquire.com
For Blood and Soil: Far-Right Extremism in Canada - Quill and Quire
As Canadians warily observe the turbocharged right-wing extremism undergirding Donald Trump’s America, two new titles serve as disturbing reminders of our own “Maple Leaf” violence, a shameful reality...
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Mark Carney won't use the legally correct "genocide" to describe the genocide taking place in Gaza because he does not want to "politicize" that word. This despite legal findings, findings of genocide scholars, etc. And yet he'll recognize every other genocide (as he should).
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BDS movement @bdsmovement.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
There is no climate justice without Palestinian liberation: a statement by Palestinian civil society on the 2026 Bonn Climate Change Conference.
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
please sign and share c.org/k4bmRhLVTJ
c.org
Sign the Petition
Demand the RCM Toronto conduct an Independent Investigation into Sexual Abuse
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
avigail.substack.com/p/israel-did...
avigail.substack.com
Israel Didn't Go Wrong. Israel Itself Is What's Wrong
Buying Time for Israel: On Omer Bartov's Liberal Zionism and Colonial Blindness
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Alex Cosh @alex.readthemaple.com · 29/05/2026
BREAKING: Canada exported $14.6 million of military goods to Israel in 2025, according to data released today by Global Affairs Canada. www.readthemaple.com/canada-expor...
readthemaple.com
Canada Exported $14.6 Million Of Military Goods To Israel In 2025
A total of 50 military export permits were utilized to sell goods to Israel in 2025.
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Some days I just want to vomit. Carney's propaganda video over the weekend was racist and militaristic to the core. His description of settlers arriving to an "inhospitable land" was an insulting erasure of thriving Indigenous people, culture, and history.
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
This book is a gift. Not all gifts are easily received, and while at times difficult to read, it's an important rejoinder to those who question CNN exclusive report about the online “rape academy” that received 62 million visits in February. womenwhochoosetolive.blogspot.com/2026/04/a-mu...
womenwhochoosetolive.blogspot.com
A Must Read Book in the Age of the "Rape Academy"
This book, along with its timing, is a gift. Not all gifts are easily received, and while it is at times difficult to read, it is an importa...
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Julie S. Lalonde @julieslalonde.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Isolate, Inebriate, Intimidate, Repeat: High Rates of Sexual Force Against Women Are Reported When Young Men Given Anonymous Surveys 🫠🫠🫠
journals.sagepub.com
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 04/04/2026
During a recent hearing before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, U.S. lawmakers blasted the Trump administration's decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil giants Gazprom and Rosneft — companies now accused of aiding the mass abduction of Ukrainian children.
kyivindependent.com
US hearing exposes links between Russia’s energy sector and abduction of Ukrainian children
During a recent hearing before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, U.S. lawmakers blasted the Trump administration's decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil giants Gazprom and Rosneft — companie...
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Julie S. Lalonde @julieslalonde.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
I mask everywhere. I've traveled the world; gone to the movies; gone to comedy shows; I've presented in rooms of 1,000s. 1x someone made a passive aggressive comment to me about it. One time! If you've stopped masking, it is not too late to start again. Please take care of your health.
independent.co.uk
New Covid variant has been identified and is already spreading in 25 states
Researchers say the strain could evade protection from current Covid shots
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Julie S. Lalonde @julieslalonde.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
You can't tell me everything is doomed, we might as well give up, we're cooked, etc etc when just yesterday we learned of dogs that worked together to escape a slaughterhouse to make their way home & now we learn a civilian talked down a suicide bomber by being kind. Doomerists are wrong.
theguardian.com
Man who talked down hospital bomber says would-be attacker asked for a cuddle
Nathan Newby set to receive George Medal for stopping a potential atrocity with an act of kindness
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
“.. He fought back tears as he explained what was there before: two wooden shelters, an outpost to make cheese, sheds for his equipment. The horse paddock was spared, but the chicken coop was gone.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/w...
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
A strong recommendation for repatriation and an end to Canadian complicity in arbitrary detention and torture! Jack Letts is one of the 16 remaining detainees who have been blocked by Canada from exercising their Charter right to return home. homesnotbombs.blogspot.com/2026/03/un-c...
homesnotbombs.blogspot.com
UN Calls on Canada to Repatriate Detainees from North-eastern Syria and Iraq
March 24, 2026 – The United Nations Human Rights Committee has called on Canada to repatriate 14 Canadian men and children (as well as two m...
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
bring them all ome now. toronto.citynews.ca/2026/03/04/m...
toronto.citynews.ca
Mother urges Canada to swiftly repatriate her son after reported transfer to Iraq
OTTAWA — The mother of a Canadian man says she fears for his safety behind bars in Iraq after receiving word from Canada’s foreign ministry he may have been transferred there from detention in northea...
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
That Joury & her brothers had to share their deep, heavy emotions today at all is a shame on Canada's government, which forces such children to bear their traumatized souls before media & the nation for the simplest of pleas: bring our mother here now. www.thestar.com/news/canada/...
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
www.propublica.org/article/okla...
propublica.org
They Were Convicted of Killing Their Abusers. A New Law Offered a Second Chance at Freedom.
An Oklahoma law was supposed to help reduce the sentences of women who killed their abusers. Why are nearly all of them still in prison?
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 12/02/2026
A ProPublica analysis of habeas cases shows that immigrants have filed more challenges to their detention in the first 13 months of Trump’s second term than in the last three administrations combined — and the number keeps rising.
propublica.org
More Immigrants Are Challenging Their ICE Detention Than Ever Before
Immigrants claiming their detention is illegal have filed more than 18,000 challenges in federal court. This total is more than were filed under the last three administrations combined — including Tru...
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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Hard not to read this and feel that what @bardcollege.bsky.social president Leon Botstein found morally urgent and emotionally effecting in the Epstein story was not the women and girls who were abused, but the rich man who was embarrassed.
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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Really nuts how many men were like "Me Too went too far, and I need to email Jeffrey Epstein about it."
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CJ Fogler @cjzero.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Olivia Dean: "I guess I want to say I'm up here as the granddaughter of an immigrant, I wouldn't be here... I'm a product of bravery and I think those people deserve to be celebrated"
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Julie S. Lalonde @julieslalonde.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
When we talk about abusive men weaponing the legal system, this is what we mean. He not only viciously murdered his wife. He then tortured her poor loved ones by dragging things in court for YEARS only to finally admit "Yeah, I did it and I did it on purpose."
cbc.ca
Jason McKay admits he intended to kill his wife Jenny, enters guilty plea to Regina murder | CBC News
Jason McKay pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on the eve of his second trial, which was scheduled to begin this week in Regina Court of King's Bench. He now admits he intentionally killed his wif...
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Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
they went to an emergency room seeking help for their 7 year old child. ICE arrested the 7 year old and her parents. the family is here legally. www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
oregonlive.com
ICE detains family seeking emergency care for child at Portland hospital
The Venezuelan parents and their 7-year-old daughter entered the U.S. legally.
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Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
In October, ICE grabbed Maher Tarabishi. He was a 24/7 caregiver for his disabled son Wael. At the time of Maher’s detention, disability advocates warned that taking away Wael’s caregiver put his life at risk. Wael died on Friday at age 30. ICE caused his death. They didn’t get to say goodbye.
wfaa.com
Disabled son of ICE detainee dies after 30 days of hospitalization
It had been months since Wael Tarabishi seen his father. The family is calling on ICE to release Maher Tarabishi so he may attend his son's funeral.
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Days after Mark Carney gassed on about international law, Canada is on the edge of once more becoming complicit in an act of extraordinary rendition to torture. homesnotbombs.blogspot.com/2026/01/fami...
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Jack Letts has been arbitrarily detained without charge under horrible conditions in NE Syria for 8 years. Also held illegally for years are 15 other Canadian women, children & men. Sign and share to bring them home: chng.it/C5tc5vHN
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Jack Letts has been arbitrarily detained without charge under horrible conditions in NE Syria for 8 years. Also held illegally for years are 15 other Canadian women, children & men. Sign and share to bring them home: chng.it/C5tc5vHN
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Matthew Behrens @matthewbehrens.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Jack Letts has been arbitrarily detained without charge under horrible conditions in NE Syria for 8 years. Also held illegally for years are 15 other Canadian women, children & men. Sign and share to bring them home: chng.it/C5tc5vHN
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