Human Rights Watch has documented ethnic cleansing in the West Darfur region of Sudan by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and allied militias against the Masalit people and other non-Arab communities. This comes amid more than a year of fighting between Sudan's military and the RSF.

Support our work: https://www.democracynow.org/donate?campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_content=description&utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube The play Grenfell: In the Words of Survivors tells the story of the 2017 apartment fire at Grenfell Tower in London that killed 72 people. It was the worst fire in Britain since World War II, and survivors blamed the government for mismanaging the public housing block and neglecting maintenance. The play tells the story of how the residents of Grenfell Tower, from the Caribbean, Portugal, Syria, Morocco, Ethiopia and Britain, created a thriving community even as their homes fell into disrepair in the years before the fire. Playwright Gillian Slovo says she was moved to create the play after watching "in absolute horror as that building burned," wondering how such a tragedy could happen in one of the richest neighborhoods of London. We also hear from Grenfell survivor Ed Daffarn, who barely escaped the inferno with his life. "I'm here. It's like a million-to-one chance," Daffarn says. (An earlier version of this video was removed due to an editing error.) Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe

Support our work: https://www.democracynow.org/donate?campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_content=description&utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube Human Rights Watch has documented ethnic cleansing in the West Darfur region of Sudan by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and allied militias against the Masalit people and other non-Arab communities. “These allied militia and the RSF then, from April until June, conducted a rampage of killings, of lootings, of torture, of rape,” says Belkis Wille, associate director with the Crisis, Conflict, and Arms Division at Human Rights Watch. She says international actors must cut off the flow of arms to all warring parties, but adds there is little “political will” to enforce an arms embargo in Sudan. Transcript: https://www.democracynow.org/2024/5/16/sudan_ethnic_cleansing Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe

Support our work: https://www.democracynow.org/donate?campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_content=description&utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube Ukrainian forces are withdrawing from some areas in the northeastern region of Kharkiv as Russian forces continue a new offensive that has displaced thousands. This latest setback for Ukraine comes more than two years after Russia invaded the country. Human Rights Watch has documented several incidents of Russian soldiers summarily executing surrendering Ukrainian soldiers, with drone footage showing the killings “in clear detail,” says Belkis Wille, associate director with the Crisis, Conflict, and Arms Division at Human Rights Watch. “They take off their vests, they put down their helmets, they lie on the ground and put their hands up. And then we see them being executed by Russian soldiers in cold blood.” Transcript: https://www.democracynow.org/2024/5/16/ukraine_russia Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe

Support our work: https://www.democracynow.org/donate?campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_content=description&utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube A new Human Rights Watch Report finds Israeli forces have attacked humanitarian aid convoys and facilities at least eight times since October 7 despite being given their coordinates. Israeli authorities did not issue advance warnings to any of the aid organizations before the attacks, which killed at least 15 people, including two children, and injured at least 16 others. More than 250 aid workers have been killed in Gaza over the past seven months, according to the United Nations. “Aid workers, unfortunately, die in conflict zones,” says HRW researcher Belkis Wille. “What’s really unique in the context of Gaza is the high number in such a short period of time.” Wille also discusses a recent U.S. government report that found Israel has likely violated international law in its assault on Gaza but that it could not make that conclusion definitively — a “shocking” finding, she says. “The United States absolutely has to start doing more to limit military assistance to Israel. … And it needs to do far more to protect civilians more broadly.” Transcript: https://www.democracynow.org/2024/5/16/israel_attacks_gaza_aid Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe

Support our work: https://www.democracynow.org/donate?campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_content=description&utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube Aid agencies are running out of food in southern Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing offensive in Rafah and the shutdown of the two main border crossings in the south. Some 1.1 million Palestinians are on the brink of starvation, according to the United Nations, while a “full-blown famine” is taking place in the north. Meanwhile, some Israelis have been blocking aid from reaching the Gaza border, including a violent attack on trucks carrying humanitarian relief through the occupied West Bank earlier this week, when settlers threw food packages on the ground and set fire to the vehicles at the Tarqumiyah checkpoint near Hebron. “They did whatever they want,” says Israeli lawyer and peace activist Sapir Sluzker Amran, who documented the attack on the aid convoy. She says Israeli soldiers appeared to be working with the settlers, refusing to intervene. “They were just standing aside like there is nothing that they can do, like it’s normal, what’s happening.” Transcript: https://www.democracynow.org/2024/5/16/israelis_attack_gaza_aid Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe

Support our work: https://www.democracynow.org/donate?campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_content=description&utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe

Palestinians across the globe are marking the 76th anniversary of the Nakba — which means “catastrophe” in Arabic — when those establishing the state of Israel violently expelled over 700,000 Palestinians. Palestinian historian Abdel Razzaq Takriti says closer to 900,000 Palestinians were forced out or massacred during Israel’s founding, which is being celebrated inside Israel with calls to ethnically cleanse and settle the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.