Author Archives: Janice Jayes

The Gaza Protests and Grassroot Challenges to US Foreign Policy

Letters to the editor, teach-ins, motions for divestment, campus protests, city resolutions . . . These expressions of citizen concern are not unique to the ongoing war on Gaza and are entirely appropriate to a democracy. Local communities have the … Continue reading

 121 total views

Posted in Foreign Policy, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Peace movement, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Gaza Protests and Grassroot Challenges to US Foreign Policy

The Erosion of US Asylum Protections

It’s been a bad year for international “rule of law.” The escalating war in Ukraine and the wretched failure of the United Nations (UN) to respond to the horror in Gaza deserve the attention they have received, but other international … Continue reading

 343 total views

Posted in Immigrants, Immigration, Latin America, Refugees, Section | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The Erosion of US Asylum Protections

The Age of Disconnect: US Policy and the War Beyond Gaza

The hypocrisy gap between US diplomatic pronouncements and US actions is no surprise to world audiences, but the disconnect on display since October 7 has put the nail in the coffin of the American Century. American officials have been invoking … Continue reading

 1,306 total views

Posted in Foreign Policy, Imperialism, International, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Section, War | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Age of Disconnect: US Policy and the War Beyond Gaza

The $1,686,170 Slap: The Shamar Betts Case Continues

It is hard to understand the magnitude of the restitution fine imposed on Urbana resident Shamar Betts as anything other than the persecution of one young black man. Despite a recent stay on collection of the debt pending a response … Continue reading

 1,198 total views,  1 views today

Posted in African American, BLM, incarceration, Justice | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The $1,686,170 Slap: The Shamar Betts Case Continues

Frozen Conflicts, Flashmob Militants, and the End of the Gunpowder State

Syria, Libya, Yemen . . . and now Sudan. Sudan has the unhappy potential to become the next of the intractable conflicts that have unfolded over the past decade. These multisided struggles involving a cocktail of militaries, militias, and mercenaries … Continue reading

 673 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Africa, Foreign Policy, International, International, Middle East, Section, Violence, War | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Frozen Conflicts, Flashmob Militants, and the End of the Gunpowder State

Silence and the Continuing Legacy of the US Invasion of Iraq

The twentieth anniversary of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq slid by with an encore performance of the arrogance that characterized the invasion itself. In 2003 that arrogance disregarded inconvenient international norms as easily as it disregarded the Iraqi victims … Continue reading

 1,425 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Foreign Policy, Imperialism, International, International, Middle East, Remembering, Section, World-wide death and suffering | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Silence and the Continuing Legacy of the US Invasion of Iraq

Labor Abuse as Product Placement at the World Cup

The 2022 soccer World Cup began its takeover of global sports channels on November 20, transmitting endless images of cosmopolitan crowds enjoying the sparkling new stadiums of Qatar to audiences around the world. The country that hosts the World Cup … Continue reading

 664 total views,  2 views today

Posted in International, International, labor, Labor/Economics, Middle East, Section, Sports | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Labor Abuse as Product Placement at the World Cup

In Guatemala, Ethnic Cleansing Moves from the Village to the Courtroom

If you want to see what ethnic cleansing looks like in the 21st century, take a trip to Guatemala. Don’t just stay at the charming eco-lodge by the lake under the volcanoes, however, because you might fly home with a … Continue reading

 964 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Farmworkers, Indigenous, International, International, Land, Latin America | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on In Guatemala, Ethnic Cleansing Moves from the Village to the Courtroom

The Great De-Centering: The World after Ukraine

The Ukraine war is a turning point in history, but not the one you might be expecting. It won’t revive the Cold War. It won’t determine the survival of the Liberal World Order (whatever that is). And most decidedly, it … Continue reading

 942 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Foreign Policy, International, International, Middle East, Politics, Racism, Ukraine, War | Comments Off on The Great De-Centering: The World after Ukraine

Shamar Betts Case Moves to Federal Appeals Court

On April 8, the case of Urbana resident Shamar Betts moved to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Betts was arrested in June, 2020 in the midst of a national crackdown on protests against the murder … Continue reading

 1,326 total views

Posted in African Americans, BLM, incarceration, Justice, Racism | Comments Off on Shamar Betts Case Moves to Federal Appeals Court

The Border We Build Every Day: Guatemala in Champaign-Urbana

The border mechanisms that capture headlines—the roundups, the cages, and the deportations—deserve attention, but this human sorting isn’t confined to the moment or space of the frontier crossing. It is part of the food we buy, the clothes we wear, … Continue reading

 1,257 total views

Posted in Foreign Policy, Immigrants, Immigration, Indigenous, Refugees, Violence | Comments Off on The Border We Build Every Day: Guatemala in Champaign-Urbana

Debt Peonage in the 21st Century: The Shamar Betts Case Continues

On August 19, Shamar Betts was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison (minus 12 for time served) for authoring a Facebook post. The sentencing also made Betts personally responsible for repaying $1.5 million for damage committed by others at … Continue reading

 1,612 total views

Posted in African American, Justice, Police | Comments Off on Debt Peonage in the 21st Century: The Shamar Betts Case Continues

Scapegoating and the 2020 Marketplace Mall Riots

I watched the legal machinery eat further into the life of a young man this past month. On June 14, I joined others at the sentencing hearing for Shamar Betts at the federal courthouse in Urbana. Betts is accused of … Continue reading

 2,815 total views,  3 views today

Posted in African Americans, Justice, Police | Comments Off on Scapegoating and the 2020 Marketplace Mall Riots

Going Dark in Afghanistan

In April President Biden announced he was “ending America’s longest war” by bringing US troops home from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. If only this war were that simple. Biden isn’t really ending the war in Afghanistan, of course: he … Continue reading

Posted in International, International, military, War | Comments Off on Going Dark in Afghanistan

Shamar Betts: Caught in a Legal Drama that Started Before He was Born

No one wants to be the poster child for a Supreme Court challenge. However, finding his case before the Supreme Court could not only help Urbana resident Shamar Betts resolve his own situation, but it could redraw the legal lines … Continue reading

Posted in African American, BLM, Champaign County, civil rights, Court System, Justice, News, Racism, Women | Comments Off on Shamar Betts: Caught in a Legal Drama that Started Before He was Born

White Nationalism in our Own Front Yards

This past summer residents of West Champaign awoke to find their neighborhoods had been leafletted with an insulting anti-immigrant flyer bearing the imprint of the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA), a group designated as a white nationalist hate group … Continue reading

Posted in Alt-Right, Racism, White Nationalism, Women, Xenophobia | Comments Off on White Nationalism in our Own Front Yards

Black Lives Matter in the Middle East

George Floyd’s murder horrified people of the Middle East just as it did many in the US and, just as in America, the outrage that followed exposed cultural fault lines, forced uncomfortable introspection, and was sometimes exploited for political purposes. … Continue reading

Posted in African American, BLM, International, Middle East | Tagged | Comments Off on Black Lives Matter in the Middle East

Mateo’s Story: Connecting with the Twice-Marginalized

If you are a Q’anjob’al speaker in CU, you are probably familiar with the young face of Mateo Sebastian. In videos shared through social media he has helped the local community keep up with information on the virus, school closures, … Continue reading

Posted in COVID-19, Immigrants | Comments Off on Mateo’s Story: Connecting with the Twice-Marginalized

Visibility and Vulnerability in the Age of COVID-19

While diseases don’t discriminate, social responses to pandemics do. The disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on African Americans in Chicago, the Navajo in the Southwest and the incarcerated across the country highlights the way marginalization contributes to tragically different outcomes … Continue reading

 1,279 total views,  1 views today

Posted in COVID-19, Food Insecurity, Immigrants | Comments Off on Visibility and Vulnerability in the Age of COVID-19

The Scramble for Libya: The New Normal in 21st Century War

In 2011, then-Vice President Joe Biden gloated to the press that US/NATO actions in Libya had modeled the new normal in warfare: an overpowering air and sea operation that accomplished the overthrow of an enemy government (Muammar Gaddafi’s) without sustaining … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Scramble for Libya: The New Normal in 21st Century War