this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2025
222 points (100.0% liked)

News

31365 readers
2928 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/33855533

Chris Smalls, the former Amazon Labor Union president who led the first successful U.S. union drive at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse in 2022, was violently detained by Israeli forces on July 26-27, 2025, while participating in a Gaza aid mission

"When he reached the Israeli prison, U.S. human rights defender Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals," the Freedom Flotilla Coalition announced. "They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back"

Smalls was aboard the Handala, an aid ship attempting to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, when Israeli Defense Forces seized the vessel and detained its crew. As the only Black person among the 20 detained activists, Smalls faced notably harsher treatment

The U.S. government failed to contact any of the seven American citizens aboard, while other countries like France, Spain and Italy reached out to their detained nationals. According to Palestinian American attorney Huwaida Arraf, who was released due to her Israeli citizenship, the activists refused deportation and began a hunger strike

"I'm thinking of Chris Smalls. And about how, because he's Black, no Greta Thunberg, no celebrity, no darling of the liberal class, he might not make it out alive," wrote author Camonghne Felix

While smaller unions condemned Smalls's detention, the Teamsters union remained silent despite having recently affiliated with the Amazon Labor Union.

top 1 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 9 points 2 days ago

However, his international union leader, Teamsters union President Sean O'Brien, has stayed silent on the detention of Smalls, who founded the Amazon Labor Union, which is now an affiliate of the Teamsters. Instead, the Teamsters President Sean O'Brien took to social media to advertise his upcoming interview with fascist commentator Vivek Ramaswamy and his 3 million right-wing followers.