Brent Patterson

PBI-Mexico accompanies march in solidarity with the disappeared during the Mendez Arceo National Human Rights Award in Cuernavaca

The Cerezo Committee has posted: “30th Mendez Arceo National Human Rights Award in Cuernavaca, Morelos” El Sol de Cuernavaca reports: “Mothers of the Disappeared Receive Sergio Méndez Arceo Award for Their Struggle in Mexico.”  “Veronica Rosas, mother of Diego Maximiliano, who disappeared in the State of Mexico, received the award Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Canada participates in community screening of “The Lab” in the lead-up to the CANSEC arms show

On Sunday May 18, PBI-Canada participated in a community screening of The Lab. The screening and discussion was organized by Labour for Palestine Ottawa with the support of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, the Anti-Imperialist Alliance, Anakbayan Ottawa, Shut Down CANSEC, and others. The synopsis of the documentary by Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Mining resistance member Misael Mata Asencio killed in Guatemala within week of hike to look at mining exploration wells

Journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc has shared on Facebook: “#Alert A member of the anti-mining resistance is murdered, from the 54 communities in Sierra Santa Cruz, jurisdiction of Livingston, Izabal, where the company Rio Nickel S. intends to operate. The name of the person who was part of the resistance was Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

The murder of CINEP researchers Mario Calderón and Elsa Alvarado in Colombia showed that “pain transcends borders”

Photo: Mario Calderón and Elsa Alvarado. On May 19, 2025, Colombia Informa reported: “On a day like today, in 1997, human rights defenders and environmentalists, Mario Calderón and Elsa Alvarado, were murdered in Bogotá. The crime, which continues to go unpunished, involved paramilitaries, the military, the Attorney General’s Office and Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Honduras accompanies ARCAH defenders at hearing following complaint filed by poultry company owner

On May 15, PBI-Honduras posted: “Yesterday, we accompanied human rights defenders Christopher Castillo and Manuel Chinchilla of ARCAH in an attempted conciliation hearing following a personal injury complaint filed by the owner of the poultry company El Cortijo. In recent years, ARCAH has filed several complaints against the company, among Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Front Line Defenders documents the killing of 31 Palestinian human rights defenders, many by Israeli airstrikes

Photo: Palestinian journalist Hassan Hamad was killed by an Israeli drone airstrike in October 2024. In this photo, the 19-year-old journalist carries the photo of his colleagues Ismael al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi who were killed in July 2024. The Dublin-based organization Front Line Defenders (the International Foundation for the Protection Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Investigative Journalism Foundation reports that Bell Textron wants to sell helicopters to the RCMP

Photo: Bell Helicopters for Public Safety, Firefighting and Police Operations. Journalist Carly Penrose of the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) reports: “The Mirabel, Que.-based company registered to lobby the federal government for contracts to sell rotary wing aircraft to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and to be part of the Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Land and environmental defenders at risk as Canada, the US and UK pursue critical minerals for weapons

In this joint policy briefing released today, May 15, 2025, seventeen organizations, including Peace Brigades International, warn that the UK government’s drive to secure minerals like cobalt, nickel and lithium could “fuel environmental destruction, human rights abuses and deepen global inequalities.” Their briefing cautions: “The mining and processing of critical Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Canada celebrates International Conscientious Objection Day and our founders who went to prison for refusing military service

Photo: Then-22-year-old Gene Keyes (with Jane Gordon) burns his draft card on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1963, in front of a Selective Service System office (that administered the draft during the Vietnam War) in Champaign, Illinois. Keyes would later move to Nova Scotia, Canada and co-found PBI in September 1981. Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago