In 2020, New Jersey legislators enacted a ban on single-use plastic bags. It's working, says Siva Jonnada in a new column for Public Square Amplified. Critics cite a flawed study to suggest otherwise, though. "Like any new law, there are going to be problems which need to be overcome, but the early flaws that critics are finding are no reason to claim the plastic bag ban is a 'spectacular failure,'" he writes. "On the contrary, I am sure we will find more successes than failures and will continue to see concrete results."

Doctors pledge to do no harm. So, as a genocide takes place before our very eyes, the silence of our medical institutions has led to widespread disgust and shame on the part of medical students, residents, and attending physicians. As medical students, many of us got into this field with the same goal: to help people. However, watching this blatant hypocrisy from the institutions and individuals that I would otherwise respect is horrifying.

One of the lessons people might have incorrectly drawn from the 2020 uprising around racial justice in the United States was that it was spurred by a sharp, rapid increase in police violence directed toward Black people. Protesters around the globe were attributing the murder of George Floyd, while technically at the knee of Officer Derek Chauvin, to the entire Minneapolis Police Department and, more widely, to a system of policing that allows the police to enact violence on the communities they’ve sworn to protect and serve. The video of the killing, courageously recorded by a 17-year-old woman, showed millions of Americans what really goes on when an initial police statement announces a “medical incident.”

NEWARK, NJ–The world has been watching the latest war between Israel and the Occupied Territory of Palestine-Gaza for the past seven weeks. According to the latest reports, to date, over 14,500 have been killed in Occupied Gaza and some 1,200 in Israel.

Today, representatives from Israel and Palestine reached a four-day truce set to begin tomorrow at 7 am. The agreement, brokered by Qatar,  outlines several key objectives, including the release of 50 Israeli hostages and 150 Palestinian prisoners, humanitarian aid to Gaza, and a halt on military engagement. 

Thanks to laws like Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the government is empowered to conduct mass surveillance with minimal safeguards to protect our privacy and rights. Because of this power, digital mass surveillance is trampling our very democracy.

May 15 of this year marked the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, or The Catastrophe. That’s 75 years since Palestinians were first forcibly expelled from their land, and they continue to be expelled to this day. This year, the United Nations (UN) commemorated the day with performances, testimonies, and videos at their New York City headquarters, featuring a keynote address by the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, as well as a statement by the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo.