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*February 12, 2026
nightslantern
suppressed news
concerned with the prevention of genocide
by john bart gerald
graphics by julie maas
2026
Rojava: Genocide Watch has issued a "genocide emergency" for the Kurds in North and East Syria. Under siege by Syrian Armed Forces and forces cooperating with Turkey's military (which has for seven years attempted Turkification of Kurdish lands) threaten survival of the Kurdish people. Genocide warning. Partial sources: "Genocide Emergency: Rojava and Northern Syria 2026, " Jan. 27, 2026, Genocide Watch; "Statement from the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on the situation in Rojava," January 2026, PPT; "Genocidal attack in Rojava cannot be understood without understanding Kurdish genocide," Cihan Eren, Jan. 26, 2026, ANF News.
Washington D.C.: a Federal Grand Jury refused to indict Congresspeople who supported a military person's right to disobey illegal orders. See previous. The government attempted to have them charged with sedition. The lawmakers were threatened with execution by the U.S. President. Partial sources: "Federal Grand Jury Declines to Indict Six Democratic Lawmakers for Urging Service Members to Refuse Unlawful Orders," Feb. 11, 2026, Democracy Now; "DC grand jury declines to indict Sens. Kelly, Slotkin for seditious conspiracy: MS Now," Dan Mangan, Feb.10, 2026, CNBC.
New York State: heavily in debt to the World Health Organization the U.S. government withdrew from the WHO on January 22nd, as U.S. assistance policy cuts increasingly place vulnerable groups at risk globally. The State of New York has joined the World Health Organization's International Response Network on its own. Partial sources: "Governor Hochul Announces New York State Will Join World Health Organization's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network," Feb. 10, 2026, Governor Kathy Hochul; "Kathy Hochul enters New York into WHO network after Trump pulls US out of global body," David Zimmermann, Feb.10, 2026, Washington Examiner.
New Brunswick: this history of Acadia is of an early North American genocide which helps explain the mix and integration of North American peoples and finds some parallel today in current U.S. deportation policy "Mass-Deported Europeans in North America - The Acadian Genetic Mystery"} (Youtube)
Cuba: The U.S. has forbidden supply and placed tariffs on any country supplying fuel to Cuba. This has caused a humanitarian crisis, interrupting food distribution, energy supply, transport to from and within Cuba, stopping the tourist industry, accessibility to the country and placing the civilian population in duress. It is calculated to make the government dysfunctional and break the revolutionary spirit of the Cuban people. Russia and China have affirmed Cuba's sovereignty. If the current U.S. policy continues other countries should prepare to consider the people of Cuba as a national group under early genocide warning. Partial sources: "China steps in as Cuba faces deepening fuel crunch under US pressure Beijing says it will back Havana's sovereignty and survival needs as the UN warns shortages are hitting daily life," Feb. 10, 2025, TRT World; "Russia warns Cuba fuel situation critical; Havana slams "cruel" US tactics," Feb. 10, 2026, Al-Jazeera; "2 Mexican Navy ships laden with humanitarian aid dock in Cuba as US blockade sparks energy crisis," AP, Feb. 12, 2026, Castanet.
Current summary from Montreal: as instances where the Convention on Genocide should be applied become more clear and multiply, the impunity of the offending major powers increases. Transgressions and threats against people in national groups as in Greenland-Denmark, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Lebanon, Palestine etc., whose rights are protected by the Convention are selectively overlooked by the media. CBC Anglophone news coverage in Montreal seems reluctant to share international news. Genocide is being ignored and normalized throughout the Western media. The U.S. has sanctioned and threatened the UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese as well as International Criminal Court judges investigating Israel's genocide in Gaza. In Canada the "All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and other Crimes Against Humanity," funded in part by the "Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies" seems to have closed along with the Montreal Institute. A Hind Rajab Foundation attempt to ban (for inciting IDF forces and propaganda for war) an Israeli comedian from admission to Canada, wasn't successful; the comedian was freed from airport detention to perform, by intervention of the Israeli consulate. The Hind Rajab Foundation was able to file charges at the comedian's next appearance in New York City. Generally, writing against genocide incurs isolation and banning as well as the contemporary risks of honest journalism. Those protesting the genocide in Gaza risk illegal retribution. In England six protestors who in 2024 broke into Elbit (the Israeli arms production company) and were charged with burglary carrying a life sentence were acquitted by jury. French judges have issued warrants for "complicity in genocide" against two persons in Israel for impeding aid to Gazans. In Boston the Hind Rajab Foundation has filed a war crimes complaint against an Israeli soldier scheduled to speak at Boston University. Partial sources for verification: "UN special rapporteur urges US to lift sanctions on ICC judges, prosecutors," Beyza Binnur Donmez, Jan. 26, 2026, Anadolu Agency; "HRF Files Legal Complaint in the United States Against Israeli Soldier Adi Karni, Already Under Investigation in Peru," Feb. 4, 2026, Hind Rajab Foundation; "Palestine Action activists cleared of aggravated burglary at Israeli defence firm site," Haroon Siddique, Feb. 4, 2026, The Guardian; "Israeli comedian said held for 6 hours at Toronto airport after Hind Rajab complaint," Michael Horovitz, Jan. 20, 2026, The Times of Israel; "France issues warrants for Franco-Israelis over Gaza 'complicity in genocide'," Feb. 4, 2026, RFI.
"Genocide Warnings for 2026," John Bart Gerald. This essay discusses changes in how genocide is understood and applied since humanity's experience with the Nazis of the Third Reich. It notes briefly about twenty countries with national, ethnic, or religious groups undergoing genocide or at particular risk now and in 2026, in Palestine, Sudan, the DRC, Myanmar, China, Venezuela, Guatemala, Haiti, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Ukraine, Cameroon, India, Kashmir, the U.S.. The list is not all-inclusive -posted December 21, 2025
A branch that comes from violence will not take root;
for a blighted root is on sheer rock, like reeds by the
banks of a river, which are dried up before any grass; but
kindness, like eternity, will never be cut off, and faithfulness
will be established forever - from Ben Sira
(Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, Abegg et al)
at first posting in 2002 this bulletin board was for emergency protests, attempts to counter genocide, anti-war information, which were suppressed in the media; my interest remains in how a society is moved into what have become genocidal wars, and how people are able to resist... it becomes a kind of history in motion and a way to counter enforced forgetfulness, the lies that say these things never happened, or that there is nothing wrong with the murders of hundreds of thousands of innocents in other countries, or the continuing move toward eradication of the poor by death, in north america; this account is against forgetfulness. - jbg 2008
by john bart gerald
graphics by julie maas
guest contributions as noted
February 12, 2026
